


Hometown

by Twiggnberries



Category: Twisted (TV)
Genre: Angst, Drama, Romance, Smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-15
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-13 14:02:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 59,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28779465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Twiggnberries/pseuds/Twiggnberries
Summary: “Welcome...to officially violating my probation.”
Relationships: Danny Desai/Lacey Porter, Danny Desai/Lacey Porter/Archie Yates
Comments: 5
Kudos: 4





	1. Chapter 1

Danny’s face was practically smooshed against the window as he sat in the backseat of Archie’s mother’s car.

“I can’t believe this is actually happening.”

“Relax, D. I told you, this summer will be lit. You’ll see.”

“What’s lit again?” 

Archie’s mom tried hard to relate to her son as she drove them from New York City to her brother’s home in Green Grove New York. It was the only way she felt she could best monitor and control his behavior at this point.

“Mom, please.”

“I believe lit means drunk and—“

“I’m just trying to convince Danny that we’re going to have fun—“

“Community service in some dump of a town all summer sounds like a nightmare. I can’t believe you got us deeper into this mess.” Danny muttered.

“Oh and doing community service in the city would have been better? At least we don’t have to battle for dominance with the rats.” Archie defended.

“It was this or jail time,” Archie’s mom tried to help too, “and Green grove is not a dump.”

The ending to their senior year of high school had been rough.

As finals loomed, Danny had thrown a party while his parents were away. He had never done anything like that before and took Archie’s advice to do something crazy that he’d remember forever before they all moved away to do their own thing. He would definitely remember this.

The party was epic. Archie took the lead and invited absolutely everyone. Among his esteemed acquaintances were a handful of students who happily supplied alcoholic beverages for the event.

At some point, Archie decided he’d go pick up a few friends who couldn’t find a ride. The problem was that Archie was smashed and ended up rear ending a police car of all things as he tried to drive across the city.

Shortly after that, NYPD arrived at Danny’s house and arrested him for hosting an underage drinking party. He also had charges added for supplying Archie with the alcohol which ultimately led to him driving recklessly.

Archie was wealthy and his family attorneys worked to get him and Danny both probation and their sentencing reduced to seventy five hours of community service. They convinced the judge to allow them to carry out the community service time at Archie’s uncle’s farm in Green Grove.

Archie’s uncle, Kyle Masterson, was the chief of police in Green Grove and agreed to put them to work on projects throughout the community all summer. The judge agreed and the deal indeed spared them jail time. 

It felt like a win at the time, but now, as they left the city limits and approached Green Grove, all Danny could think about was having to spend his whole summer away from his friends scooping pig shit in some sleepy town where everything closes by 6 pm.

“I still can’t believe they wouldn’t let us walk for graduation.” Danny grumbled, “Twelve years working toward that, I messed up one time—“

Not only were they banned from walking at graduation, they were both suspended for the remainder of the year. They took their finals in a conference room, passed them, and were ushered out the door a full two weeks before the last day of school.

“Dude, don’t focus on that shit. We got the diploma, let’s make the most of this summer.”


	2. Chapter 2

“Kyle—“ Archie’s mom gave her brother a big hug as Archie hopped out of the car, eager to stretch his legs.

Danny sighed deeply and through the backseat window, took stock of the traditional farm he’d be stuck at for the whole summer. He eventually poured himself out of the backseat, resisting Archie’s advice to make the most of this because following his advice had been the reason they were even in this situation in the first place.

“Hey, Arch, get over here—“ Kyle grabbed his nephew and pulled him in for a bro hug and a few knuckles to his head.

“Hey Uncle Kyle.” Archie acknowledged politely.

Kyle’s eyes traveled to a deflated Danny as he watched the young man drag himself over toward them.

“You must be Danny.” Kyle tried to build some sort of rapport with him.

Danny didn’t say anything, only giving one stiff nod.

“Tess around?” Archie’s mom asked as Kyle led them all inside the old farmhouse.

“She’s in town with Jo, running some errands. They’ll be back soon. Tea?”

“Ooo, yes please.”

“Uncle Kyle, mind if I show Danny around?”

“I have to pat you both down first.” Kyle said dead serious.

“Oh—“ Archie struggled with how to react to that, looking at Danny in surprise.

Kyle smiled, “I’m just messing with ya, have fun.”

Archie and Danny walked over to the barn to see all of the different animals.

“Is he always like that?” Danny asked, unimpressed with Kyle’s brand of dad humor.

“Yep.”

Danny made note of the six horse stalls he knew he’d be cleaning all summer before they moved on to the chicken coops and the pig pens.

An old truck rambled up the driveway, lots of wild blonde hair blowing around inside. Archie and Danny headed back toward the house just in time to see a sullen girl around their age get shoved in their direction. She shuffled toward them.

“Jo!” Archie smiled and went to hug his cousin.

Jo held her hand out, “No thanks.” She grimaced, her face screwed up tight while she dodged Archie’s arms.

“You haven’t gotten any taller—“ Archie noted.

“Thank you?”

“This is Danny—“

“The other delinquent, hello.” Jo chided.

Danny watched her eyes covertly raking over his body, betraying her couldn’t-care-less persona.

“So much warmth on this farm. Family life in the country—“ Danny rambled sarcastically as he absorbed Jo’s frosty, complex personality and spat it back out at her.

“Can you both at least try not to be cynical bitches at the same time maybe?” Archie rolled his eyes and pushed past them and over to sit on the tire swing.

Danny remained standing with Jo while they watched Archie spin himself around on the swing.

Jo sighed, “I’m just not excited that you’re both here for the whole summer.”

“That makes two of us.” Danny admitted.

“Guys, push me!” Archie whined.

“I see my cousin’s brain still hasn’t developed past age ten.” Jo smirked, watching as Archie struggled to gain momentum on the swing.

“Come on now, he’s at least twelve—“ Danny smirked too.

“C’mon, guys!” Archie looked over at them, “Wait, are you both smiling right now?!” Archie asked in confusion.

******

Archie’s mom bolted as quickly as she had arrived and left Archie and Danny to adjust to their new normal.

Dinner was awkward.

Danny’s family never had the time or the desire to sit down together and eat a meal. His father was always either in his office or away on business, while his mother would typically make him something in the microwave that he could easily scurry off to his room with.

He knew his very existence had been an accident. Danny’s parents had both been very vocal about never wanting children and reminded him often that he was not planned as a way to control him.

Danny wanted to please them and mostly stayed quiet and out of the way. He always got good grades and would never put himself in situations that had the potential to cause his parents any grief. That was until he made the decision to throw that party.

Once Danny’s parents found out that he had been arrested they made no move to bail him out and told him that he had to figure this out on his own. Luckily Archie’s parents stepped in and helped to get him where he was now. He really didn’t have a choice, he had nowhere left to go.

“So Danny, are you headed to SU with Archie this fall?” Tess smiled warmly.

“No ma’am—“

“Call me Tess, ma’am sounds so old—“

“Okay. No, I’m taking some time off.” Danny said as convincingly as possible.

“I wanted to take a gap year too.” Jo admitted.

“Jo—“ Kyle revved up to begin a conversation that Danny surmised they had gone rounds with before.

“—but, my parents won’t let me.”

“Taking a year off is a dangerous thing to do. Life happens and—“

“Dad, I know.” Jo rolled her eyes.

“What are your plans for your time off, Danny?” Tess tried to change the subject again.

Danny hadn’t had the chance to iron out what his next moves were once this legal whirlwind began. All he knew was that he was no longer welcome at his home. He pushed the food around his plate while he tried to think of something to say.

“Well, you’ve got all summer to think about it.” Kyle tried to soothe Danny’s obviously overwhelmed mind.

“Dessert?” Tess asked as she stood and tried to collect the plates.

“I’ve got these—“ Archie insisted.

“Alright, tomorrow we’re heading over to the high school for your fist day of community service.” Kyle declared.

“The high school?” Danny, Jo and Archie all said in unison.

“Dad—“ Jo began to object, never expecting to have to babysit these two.

“Relax, they’re not going in with you—“

“So what are we doing, like landscaping or something?” Archie tried to figure out how they could help at a school.

“Green Grove High School has one week left before their summer break starts. The senior class is working on a drinking and driving presentation and they need volunteers.” Kyle boasted like it was the best idea ever.

“Oh god.” Jo groaned.

“It really is a good opportunity to make a difference. These kids are your age and you two have real experience with the real consequences.” Tess backed Kyle up.

“Whatever.” Jo sunk down further in her seat, “Can I go to my room now?”

“Yes, go ahead.” Tess excused her, “Archie, pie?”

“Yep!”

“Danny?”

“No thanks. Um, Chief Masterson, who feeds the animals in the morning?”

“Well, Tess mostly, Jo and I are usually out the door pretty early. Tess teaches pottery classes in the evening in town so Jo and I usually take over at night.”

“Could I do it? Like, outside of my community service time, maybe I could work here too?”

“Yo, really dude?” Archie cringed.

Kyle made eye contact with Tess and waited for her reaction. She gave him a shrug.

“Okay, Tess can show you what needs to be done tomorrow morning if you’re really committed to this.”

“I am.”

“It’s a 4 am wake up call. Job takes a couple hours, seven days a week. We could give you—ten dollars an hour?”

“Yes, sir. I’ll do it.” Danny wanted some sort of positive cash flow, “Thank you both. Can I leave now too?” He stood tentatively.

“Good night Danny, so nice meeting you.” Tess smiled at him, pouring all the motherly love he had never really felt before into her send off.

“You too, see you in the morning.”

“Can I have more pie?” Archie asked through his last bite.

Tess just handed him the pie plate with half the pie left in it.

“Sweet.” Archie shoveled more bites in.

Kyle stood and brought his dishes to the sink, “My turn to make dinner tomorrow.” He kissed the side of Tess’ face.

“No more pizza please—“ Tess groaned.

“But I’m so good at ordering—“ Kyle joked, “Okay, fine, I’ll really cook something. You sure about Danny helping you?”

“He made one mistake, he’s not a bad kid. Plus I’d really love to start sleeping in.”

“Okay.”

“What time are we leaving tomorrow Uncle Kyle?” Archie asked.

“7 am.”

******

“Come in.” Danny said curiously.

Jo opened his door and remained standing in the hallway.

She lifted her chin to her left, “My room’s right next to yours. You snore?”

Danny smiled, “I’m not sure, I’m usually asleep when I’m asleep so—“

Jo smiled too, “I see. I’ll give you an update in the morning then. Want to see something cool?”

“There are cool things here?”

“One or two.” Jo ticked her head to the side, “C’mon.”

Danny followed Jo through a very narrow doorway at the end of the hall and up a steep staircase. At the top she unlocked a bulkhead door and pushed it up and open. The pair climbed out onto the roof.

“Whoa.” Danny looked up at all the brilliant stars. In the city the lights were too bright to ever seem them like this.

“My grandfather made that little secret door. He loved coming up here to see the stars.”

Danny sat down beside Jo and they flopped onto their backs as they gazed at infinite space, both of them contemplating their meaningless existence yet feeling strangely calm as they faced it in this capacity.

“You’re quiet, like me.” Jo rambled.

“Words are important. I try to use them wisely.”

Jo looked over at him, “That’s refreshing because people around here never shut up.”

“Seems pretty quiet here to me. The city is always loud and busy.”

“What’s it like?”

“The city? Loud and busy—“ He repeated.

“I meant growing up, I can’t imagine dealing with trying to get around. Do you drive?”

“Yeah, but I never needed to. Growing up in the city has been, I don’t know, lonely sometimes I guess. There are all these people but no one really slows down to get to know you. The other side of that is the anonymity, you blend in, no one knows who you are so you can be anybody you want. Same reason, two very different feelings.”

“I never thought of that.”

“What about you? What was it like growing up here?”

“Smelly and boring.” Jo sighed.

“Boring scares me a little.” Danny admitted after a pause.

“Why’s that?”

“I tend to stand out when things are boring, get into trouble. When I feel like all eyes are on me I battle against my punk rock side who wants to tell them all to fuck off, but I know I can’t screw up this opportunity.”

“Opportunity? You say it like this is a good thing, aren’t you on probation?”

“It’s not a good thing, I know. I’m just trying to take it for what it is, a lesson. I also have nowhere to go after this is over. I’d rather be in the city with my friends right now, but this is probably the safer option I guess.”

“Wow, how mature of you.”

“I thought you said you were quiet.”

“You’re the one who won’t shut up!” Jo giggled.

“Hey guys! I didn’t get invited?” Archie asked as he pulled himself up to join them.

“I figured you wouldn’t want to come up after last time—“ Jo said flatly.

“Wait. What happened last time?” Danny popped up on his elbows ready for this story.

“Archie’s afraid of heights.”

“I was ten.”

“He had a total panic attack and threw up all over the place, peed his pants. It was amazing.” Jo cackled quietly.

“Oh shit.” Danny laid back down.

“Again, I was ten.” Archie said and took a brave step toward them, his fear still very obvious to all of them, “I’m just going to sit right here by the door—“

“So how many people are doing this drunk driving thing?” Danny wondered.

“Like no one signed up because it’s stupid. Phoebe is in charge of it, she’s a theatre rat. The queen bees Lacey, Sarita and Regina are all working on it because they got caught smoking in the bathroom—“

“Queen bees?”

“Yeah, they’re like the super popular, mildly brainless ones. I’m sure you had them in the city.”

“Oh yes.” Archie smirked, definitely insinuating he’d banged a few.

“Gross.”

“Mildly brainless?” Danny waited for clarification.

“Regina is straight up brainless, Sarita’s just a total bitch. Lacey’s not brainless, we used to be friends actually, I mean we kind of still are. We’re just into different things now I guess. Anyway, Doug and Rico are in charge of the AV stuff, that’s pretty much it.”

“So if it’s stupid and no one is doing it except for people you don’t seem to like, why are you doing it?” Archie asked.

“Because of you two losers! My dad was asked to speak at this thing and once he found out what happened with you he told me I had to get involved.”

“Ouch.” Archie cringed.

“Yeah, sorry Jo.” Danny winced.

“Okay, I can’t take it, see you tomorrow guys—“ Archie snaked his jelly legs back inside the rooftop exit and slid himself down the stairs.

“He didn’t puke.” Danny pointed out as he sat himself up.

“Cannot confirm he didn’t just pee his pants though.” Jo countered.

Jo sat up and the two slouched, looking out over the cow pasture in silence for a while. Danny caught a lightning bug and marveled at how hideously ugly there were and yet so beautiful when floating around with their little asses illuminated.

“What does your girlfriend think about all of this?” Jo asked carefully.

Danny turned to look at her and chuckled to himself, “You’re fishing.”

“Maybe a little.” Jo admitted.

“Don’t.”

“I can’t know?” She asked innocently.

Danny shook his head and lifted his eyebrows, “Listen, I’m living at your house all summer and working for your family. I can’t mess this up by screwing—“ Danny waved his hand around trying to summon the right words.

“—me.” Jo nodded.

“Okay, don’t put words in my mouth. I was going to say by screwing up what little trust your parents have in me.”

“It was just a question.”

“I don’t have a girlfriend.” Danny revealed.

Jo stayed quiet after that, eventually standing and helping Danny up. He held onto her hand after he was back on his feet and gave it a squeeze to get her attention.

“Hey, I’m an only child with basically zero family. You give me sister vibes and I kinda like that. I think I kinda really need that.”

“Every girl wants to hear that hot guys think of them like sisters.” Jo snarked and tried to pull her hand back.

“You think I’m a hot guy?” Danny smiled and continued holding her hand so she wouldn’t run away.

“Shut up.”

“Friends?” He asked honestly, “Please?”

Jo rolled her eyes and shook his hand back, “Friends.”


	3. Chapter 3

Danny dragged himself out of bed at 3:30 the next morning and made it outside before Tess.

“Morning Danny.”

“Morning. I would have gotten started, but I have no idea what hat I’m doing.” Danny flashed Tess his best charming smile.

“On a farm, we work for the animals not the other way around.” Tess began sagely as they headed toward the barn together, “There’s a rhythm to this, feeding them early isn’t an option so you take that time to sleep, understand? You don’t need to impress anyone and there are no brownie points to earn, it’s about consistency.”

“Okay.”

Tess showed Danny her typical flow, throwing flakes of hay to the horses, the feed for the cows and the chickens and then how to stir up some chum for the pig’s trough.

By the end of the second hour, Danny was sweaty and dirty and smelled like shit. He still had so much to learn.

“You do this every morning?”

“Oh yes, it’s the easy part. Everything you feed them? It comes back out by the end of the day and that’s when Kyle and Jo are responsible for them.” Tess laughed and patted Danny on the back, “Be thankful.”

******

Danny was used to multiple bathrooms, modern bathroom fixtures and on demand hot water. It took him forever to figure out how to start the shower and once he did he ran out of hot water before he could finish washing his long hair. 

He took a deep breath and rinsed off quickly in the cold water before he heard Kyle knocking on the bathroom door.

“Danny, don’t use all the hot water—“ Kyle begged from the other side.

Danny opened the door with only his jeans on, his towel wrapped tightly around his dripping locks.

“Um, that may have already happened—“ Danny said apologetically.

Kyle sighed.

“Trust me, he needed the hot water—“ Tess giggled from the kitchen.

“I didn’t know—“

Kyle nodded, “It’s okay.” He pushed past Danny and into the only bathroom for a quick, icy cold shower.

“Sorry Tess.” Danny said as he turned to run up the stairs, smashing right into a groggy Jo Masterson as she was almost to the bottom.

“Shit—“ Danny instinctively grabbed for her so she wouldn’t continue flying backward after ricocheting off his body.

Jo held on for dear life, her morning brain unable to process Danny’s gorgeous naked upper body, holding her tight and smelling so damn good.

“You don’t snore.” Was all she could think to say.

Danny smiled back at her, “Thanks for the update.”

“Did you two just body slam each other?” Archie gave a husky grunt as he thumped down the stairs, “That was quick.” 

“I—I didn’t see her—“ Danny stuttered and he took a step back, pulling the towel from his head and holding it to his chest, “I’m sorry, excuse me.” 

Danny jogged up the stairs two at a time. He stayed in his room until it was time to leave, too embarrassed by his last few interactions with the Mastersons to come down for breakfast. He just needed a minute to himself to recenter.

“Danny we’re leaving!” Kyle bellowed, Danny sprinted down to meet them, “You’re not eating?”

He was starving.

“I actually still had some protein bars so I’m good.” He lied.

“Jo, let’s go!” Kyle shook his head as he tried to wrangle all three kids.

The ride to Green Grove High School was relatively quiet except for Danny’s truly grumbly tummy. 

“Home of the Grizzlies.” Archie read off the sign out front as they pulled into a parking spot.

“No offense, but I’m ditching you guys. See you later.” 

Jo took off and left the three men alone in Kyle’s police car. Danny’s stomach went off again and Kyle pulled his wallet out and handed each of them ten bucks.

“For lunch.” He explained and looked at Danny, “We’ll get better at this okay?”

“Thanks.”

“Alright, let’s go.”

******

“Sarita if you can’t be bothered to say your lines with conviction you can just go find Doug and work on lighting.” A petite, somewhat frenzied, brunette squelched while flailing around the script in her hand.

“And miss being part of your directorial debut? Never.” 

Kyle, Archie and Danny watched the girls squabbling as they made their way into the auditorium.

“Dibs on the brunette.” Archie whispered behind him at Danny as they trailed several feet behind Kyle.

“First of all, you’re disgusting. Secondly, which one?” Danny squinted as more and more of the students came into focus.

“The one with the purple skirt.” He clarified.

Danny reassessed and lost his breath as he figured out who Archie had his eye on. She was radiant, golden brown skin, face like an angel. Damn it. 

“Chief Masterson! Welcome!” Phoebe held her hand to her chest dramatically, her entire personality changing into an exuberant welcome wagon.

“Hello Phoebe. This is Archie Yates—“ Chief went to point, doing a double-take when he wasn’t right there, “Keep up guys. This is Archie and this is Danny Desai.”

“Welcome, Phoebe Daly, very happy to have some camera-ready testosterone here to balance us out.” Phoebe shook their hands, “C’mon I’ll introduce you.” 

Phoebe shamelessly ogled them before spinning on her heel and marching to stage. Danny pretty much wanted to flee the building. He couldn’t imagine anything else he wanted to do less than get introduced to these people.

“I’ll be back to pick you up after lunch. Behave.” Kyle warned before leaving the boys to fend for themselves.

“Gather ‘round people, gather ‘round.” Phoebe said like she had all of their respect (she did not).

“Whaaat is this—“ Regina’s eyes twinkled after connecting with the two hot men that just climbed onto the stage, her eyes never leaving Danny’s face.

“How can you still be boy crazy during shit like this?” Sarita deadpanned.

“You’re no fun, Sarita.” Regina wanted someone to gush with, “Earth to Lacey—“

“I’m never going to memorize this in two days.” Lacey stressed under her breath, flipping through the pages to the script before connecting that she was being summoned.

Lacey snapped back into reality and glanced up to see a guy around their age staring back at her. She took a quick inventory, green eyes, tall, not bad. She felt a little creeped out when she realized his eyes were not leaving her or her body.

She folded her arms across her chest and stood taller, challenging him with her own unimpressed stare. Archie looked down momentarily and right back again. 

Lacey scanned further and connected with the shorter guy next to him, her jaw opening slightly as if he held the key to it. He was so handsome, long brown hair pulled back haphazardly into a sexy man-bun, big brown eyes and gorgeous brown skin. 

He had his eyes on her too, but his gaze definitely didn’t feel predatory. His eyes shimmered, his face soft and loving. Lacey couldn’t take her eyes off of him.

“That boy is my summer fling.” Regina said as if he were a book that she just checked out of the library.

“Which one?” Lacey swallowed hard.

“The mystery man with the dark eyes.” She ticked her chin over in Danny’s direction.

“These are our real life volunteers. These two know first hand what we’re trying to accomplish here.” Phoebe introduced them as if they were irreplaceable, “This is Archie Yates and this is Danny Desai.”

“Mmm, bad boys.” Regina’s head lolled a little.

“How do you know?” Sarita asked skeptically.

“Chief Masterson brought them in and they’re being introduced as ‘real life volunteers’—I wonder what they did. Oh, I loooove bad boys. You think Danny would choke me?”

“Eck—“ Sarita shook her head.

Lacey groaned in disappointment at her friend before all three of them looked at Danny again and wondered for themselves.

Danny could feel all eyes on him, most of them fleeting with the exception of the blonde and the brunette. He looked between the two continuously, trying to be polite and respectful of their obvious infatuation with him. 

The blonde was way too intense. He loved fierce women, but this bordered on suffocating and they hadn’t even spoken a word to each other yet. For some reason his connection with the brunette felt natural, easy. It sparked excitement in him to find something like that in such a random way and he hoped to explore where that went.

“Wow, those eyes. I hope he’s that intense in bed.” Regina salivated.

“Guys, this is Sarita, that’s Doug and Rico from our AV team, Regina, Lacey and Jo.”

Lacey, Lacey, Lacey. Danny tried to burn her name into his brain. Archie was doing the same.

“Nice to meet you.” Archie smiled, Danny following up with a simple nod and half-hearted grin.

“Right, well—Lacey! Since you’re the only one holding a script, I’ll put you in charge of running lines with—“

“I’d love to learn some lines.” Archie asserted.

“Good, yes, thank you. Lacey, Archie. Boom.” Phoebe gave a single clap, both Lacey and Danny felt a tinge of disappointment with this arrangement.

“I can run lines with Danny!” Regina piped up.

“Oh—well, Regina, if you had actually read the script you’d know that there are no other roles to fill. Danny will be delivering our impact statement to the entire crowd at the end of our program.” Phoebe held out jazz hands toward the empty seats for emphasis.

“Well I’m sure he’ll still need to practice his monologue?” Regina tried to use big theatre words to impress Phoebe, “I could be his heckling audience, get him prepared to address an, energetic, crowd like ours.” She meant her.

Regina winked at Danny and for some reason this made his eyes dart over to Lacey, his face begging her for help. Lacey watched the entire exchange and curled her mouth in to stifle a laugh. Danny added his own side smirk before looking down. This connection with Lacey was very fun.

“Fine.” Phoebe sighed, defeated, “Just go away.” She handed Danny a script and shooed them down toward the back of the auditorium.

“Let’s go over here, it’s super dark and Doug and his minions can’t film us.”

“Why would that matter? Also, I’m pretty sure I will need some light in order to read this—“ He shook the script in his hand.

“Sometimes privacy is nice.” Regina smiled and dragged him along, “We’ll practice some improv.”

“Alright where do I start?” Danny tried to focus, flipping through the pages after Regina had finally picked their seats.

“With your lips right here.” Regina tapped the edge of her bottom lip and began to lean in.

Danny didn’t budge and just watched her be painfully relentless. Before she got too close he shut this shit down.

“I don’t even know you.” Danny challenged her and held his hand up to stop her pursuit, “You can’t just have me.”

Regina reared back a little, definitely not used to that reaction. Lacey couldn’t help but glance over to watch where Danny’s boundaries were. She watched him hold her at bay and her heart swelled a bit. This was so silly, they hadn’t even heard each other speak yet.

“Well, let’s get to know each other—“ Regina tried again.

“Perfect, Regeeta, right?”

“It’s Regina—“

“Regina, nice to meet you. I’m Danny and I am currently focused on earning my community service badge from the NYPD and I’m definitely not going to jail because of you.” 

“So you are a bad boy.” Regina bit her lip.

“Look, Regina, you seem very nice and everything—“

“I’ll just get right to it, there’s a year end party this weekend at my house. I have one every year. Come.” Her innuendo not lost on him, “I want you to come.”

Danny needed this to be over faster. 

“Wow.” Danny responded simply, standing and trying to convince himself not to start sprinting as he headed back to the stage.

“Wait, wait, wait—“ Regina ran after him, “I’m sorry, okay? I am a super outgoing person and I know what I want when I see it. If you’re not there yet, I get it.”

Danny sighed, “The party sounds fun, but honestly I really don’t think I can go. Thanks anyway.”

Regina trudged along behind Danny, not used to rejection in any form.

“Done already?! Impressive—“ Phoebe began to compliment Danny’s work ethic.

“I should probably work with someone else.” Danny said as evenly as possible.

“Oh—“ Phoebe gave Regina the death stare.

Regina shrugged innocently.

“Lacey! How is it going over there?” Phoebe checked in and Danny finally heard her voice for the first time.

“It’s going.” Lacey replied with a rather dismal edge.

“Okay, let’s shake this up. Regina, you read lines with Archie, Lacey can critique Danny’s speech and Jo, you work with Sarita.”

“What?!” Archie was not quiet about being disappointed.

Danny’s heart sped up as Lacey walked toward him, he’d never felt butterflies like this before.

“Hi.” Lacey greeted him, “Lacey Porter.” She held her hand out.

“Hello.” He replied. 

Hello? Why was he so awkward recently? Where had his personality gone? He lost his game.

Danny shook her hand, sparks flying for both of them. Neither of them wanted to let go but they did.

“How far did you get with Regina?” Lacey asked as they walked off together.

“Not as far as she wanted.” Danny emphasized.

“She’s harmless I promise.” Lacey slid herself up onto a speaker at the end of the stage.

“She didn’t seem harmless—“

“Regina’s all talk, trust me. She just wants to collect you like all the others.”

“Yeah, see, that’s the part that seems harmful.” Danny smiled.

“Not into her?” Lacey probed further.

“Her, no.” Danny said, his eyes telling a whole story.

Lacey grinned back at him, the two of them loving this back and forth more than they probably should.

“What about Archie, was he behaving?” Danny wanted to take her temperature on their connection too.

“Not at all.” Lacey shook her head, “But I’m used to guys like that.”

“You shouldn’t be used to that—“ Danny started what felt like a rant but caught himself when he realized he was pouring his heart all over her, “I just, think you deserve better.”

“Thanks, I do too.” Lacey giggled at his obvious nerves, he was so sweet. “Okay, pretend I’m your audience.” Lacey tried to move this along.

“I’m not sure I can do this—“

“You’re nervous? I didn’t think bad boys got nervous.”

“I’m not a bad boy.” Danny was sad that Lacey viewed him that way.

“So how’d you get here then?”

Danny sighed and ran his hands through his hair, pulling the elastic free and shaking out his beautiful locks. He watched Lacey slyly reassess him once it was down. They definitely liked each other.

“I made a mistake.”

“That involved alcohol I assume?”

“It’s a long story.” 

Danny didn’t know where to start, feeling like all of the details were important but there wasn’t enough time to explain. He wanted her to know everything that led up to that party, not just the end result.

“I got time. Want to get together later, after school?” 

“Yes, but I honestly can’t. Chief Masterson is picking us up after lunch and I’m stuck with him after that.”

“You’re staying at Jo’s house right?”

“Yes.”

“You can’t have friends over to work on projects—“ Lacey held up the script, “Like this?”

“I honestly don’t know.”

“Give me your phone—“ Lacey held her hand out.

“I—I don’t have one.” Danny felt like such a loser.

“Seriously?”

His confidence plummeted through his feet. He felt heavy, useless. Why was he even trying to connect with her? It’s not like they would be together long term anyway. The right thing to do would be to stop this now.

“You know, Lacey, let’s just focus on this while we’re here. I’m just a little nervous, I’ll get over it.” Danny forced his hands to move to the last pages of the script and begin reciting his closing remarks. 

He was better at this than he expected. The handful of students crowded around him to listen as he injected his own emotion and experience into the monologue. He even paused to make a few notes.

At the end, they call clapped for him, Lacey included. Danny had blocked out everyone else and had been reciting the words on the page to Lacey alone. Turns out he really did have a huge opportunity to impact those around him. 

His confidence shot back up a little, settling in at his kneecaps. Apparently, being talented at talking about what a fucking loser you are still didn’t really help to make him feel worthy of pursuing someone like Lacey.

“Wow, Danny. Wonderful!” Phoebe gushed, “We’ll pick this up tomorrow guys, lunchtime!”

While everyone began to collect their things, Danny stayed put waiting for Archie to finish up whatever disgusting conversation he was having with Regina. 

“Help me down?” Lacey requested and held her arms out.

Danny grabbed Lacey’s waist and hoisted her down off the speaker, her body sliding down his and creating an intense heat trail along the way. She held on tight and so did he, loving how she fit in his arms. 

He closed his eyes briefly and tried to pack away how good this moment felt so he could use it later as a warm, cozy memory for when he was down.

“Thank you.” Lacey said, being the first to take a step back. 

“Any time.”

“You’re different.” Lacey decided out loud, not exactly talking to him.

“I was thinking the same thing.” Danny’s little side smile threatening to charm the pants right off of her.

“Dude, Regina’s party?!” Archie stumbled into their conversation excitedly.

“Chief’s not going to let us go—“

“Let me worry about my uncle.”

“Arch, I’m not going.”

“Lacey, you going to this party?” Archie asked knowing that at this point she wasn’t interested in him and that Danny was crushing on her big time.

“I planned on it,” She looked at Danny, “Unless I find something better to do.” Lacey’s dimples now making an appearance, good lord.

“Shit.” Archie grunted a laugh beside his best friend.

Danny’s cheeks warmed and he looked down.

“Archie? Danny?” The guys turned their attention to Phoebe who dragged over another student with long black hair and glasses, “This is our class president, Andie. She’s going to escort you to lunch.”

“Hello, felony-bound guests. I am sure we’ll see each other again once I’m a prosecutor, but for now, let’s go eat some sub-standard public school food.” She marched away, “Keep up if we’re doing this.”

“Oh, Andie—“ Phoebe sighed and threw her hands up.

“The girls and I will take them to the cafeteria. They can eat with us.” Regina offered.

“I guess that’ll work. Chief Masterson made me promise they would stay in the cafeteria until he comes back.” Phoebe pointed at all of them.

******

Having kids their own age from the city and on probation while visiting their school was headline news. Regina preened with them at her table as if she not only ruled the school, she ruled anyone who graced their halls.

Archie sat in between Regina and Lacey, Danny on Lacey’s other side. 

“Where’d Sarita go?” Lacey looked around for their snide friend.

“Smoke break.” Regina shook her head.

“Jesus.” 

“Yeah didn’t you guys just get busted for smoking?” Danny asked Lacey as privately as possible.

“Yep. We can all legally smoke, just not in the school bathroom.” Lacey rolled her eyes.

“Where’s Jo?” Danny looked around, finding her sitting with Rico and Doug at the far end of the cafeteria.

“Yeah, she doesn’t sit here—“ Regina scowled, Lacey nudging her under the table, “What? All I said was she doesn’t sit here—“ She shrugged.

Danny devoured the tiny school servings of whatever warmed up food this was, only able to discern corn for sure. He followed it up with a flat, flavorless hamburger that he purchased separately.

“Don’t the Mastersons feed you?” Lacey asked as she worked on the food she brought from home.

“I missed breakfast.”

Lacey slid the other half of her sandwich toward him, “Well I’m done, take what you want—“ She smiled, Danny happily accepting her offer.

Lacey scooted in tighter while Danny’s mouth was full, her hand softly creeping up onto his knee. Danny’s chewing slowed and he tried to keep himself composed. 

After a few moments he realized she was not backing away and Danny kind of relaxed, leaning and snuggling in against her too. God he needed more willpower.

“Wow, the bees sitting with the inmates. I’m surprised.” Some douche jock commented from behind Regina.

“I guess you’re just not as interesting, Scott.” Regina shrugged.

“That’s not what you said the other night.”

“Hey—“ Archie defended Regina and turned a little to face him, “Don’t talk to her like that, put her shit on blast. What the fuck’s wrong with you?”

Regina liked that.

“How does it feel to be on probation, gentlemen? If you mess up you go to jail, right?”

“You could say that.” Archie tried to remember that he was there to be a teaching tool.

“Then does it make you mad when someone does this and you can’t fight back?” Scott asked before flicking Archie in the back of the head.

Archie and Danny both sprang to their feet, Lacey grabbing onto Danny’s arm to try and stop him from whatever was brewing.

“Scott’s being a dick again, yawn. Get a new hobby, loser.” Sarita growled from behind them, “Get the fuck out of my way.”

Scott took a few steps back and eventually walked out of the cafeteria.

“That was hot.” Regina giggled.

“Danny—“ Lacey pulled him back down and this time moved her hand further up his thigh to get his attention, “Don’t let the reason you go to jail be for fighting with Scott Ogden.” She said his name like it tasted like dog shit in her mouth.

Lacey’s hand continued to move further upward, Danny grabbing it and pressing it in place to stop her.

“What are you doing?” He gave her hand a tiny squeeze so she knew what he was addressing.

Lacey licked her lips, “Deciding if I need to buy more chapstick tonight before I stop by to see you.”

“Lacey—“

Lacey smiled big and squeezed his hand back under the table, leaning way too far into his personal space. Their lips were so close to ghosting it created the best tension ever. God she was beautiful.

“Lacey!”

Lacey’s head snapped toward the familiar voice. Her father. She released Danny’s leg and leaned away from him so fast it was as if he had suddenly burned her. 

She popped out of her seat and grabbed her things as Mr. Porter made his way over to his daughter.

“Daddy, hi!”

Danny took a deep breath and exhaled, keeping his face forward, eyes trained on the empty tray in front of him.

“Why are you sitting here?”

Lacey looked around in mock confusion, “This is where I always sit?”

“I’m taking you to get your cap and gown. Let’s go.” He glared at Archie and Danny.

“Have you met Danny—“ She tried to introduce them.

“Not interested.”

“But Daddy—“

“Let’s go.”

Lacey looked back at Danny and waved as she followed her father out of the cafeteria.

Kyle was walking in as Lacey and her Dad were walking out.

“Hey Sam, Lacey.” Kyle greeted them happily.

Samuel Porter took a few too many steps into Kyle’s path.

“You mind telling me why those losers are in the cafeteria unsupervised right now?”

“Hey, Sam, one of those kids is my nephew—“

“They’re on probation, Kyle. The one with the long hair just had his hands all over my daughter—“

“Danny?” Kyle looked at Lacey in confusion.

“He didn’t have his hands—“ Lacey tried.

“I saw what I saw. I get what your plan is here, Kyle, I really do, but someone has to stay with those two for the week or I’m going to make some calls.”

“I’ll talk to them.”

“No, they can scrape up your cow shit away from my child, or you can have an officer escort them while they’re on school grounds. Am I clear?” Samuel wasn’t playing.

Not only was Samuel Lacey’s father, he was also the school superintendent.

“Yes.”

“Excellent. Get them out of here.”


	4. Chapter 4

Kyle fumed as Danny sat in the passenger seat, Archie in the back for their suddenly very long two mile drive back to the Masterson farm.

“You haven’t even been here for twenty four hours yet.” Kyle shook his head.

“Uncle Kyle, we didn’t do anything—“ Archie protested.

“I didn’t have my hands all over anyone, I wouldn’t do that—“ Danny defended himself.

“Enough! This was my fault, I was too trusting. You’re both on probation for a reason and I should be treating you how you obviously deserve until you prove otherwise.”

“Nothing happened.” Archie tried again.

“Here are the rules. Danny, as you requested you’ll do your job in the morning, you’ll complete this week working at the high school, along with a school resource officer thanks to your hands finding places they shouldn’t have been—“

“I. Didn’t. Do. Anything!” Danny snipped.

“That’s enough.” Chief snipped back, “After that you’ll come home and work with Jo cleaning out the horse stalls. Understood?”

Danny was pissed, he didn’t answer.

“Danny I asked you a question.”

“Will the cleaning after school count toward my community service time?”

“Not this week. Welcome to the real world, with real consequences. Now answer me.”

“I understand, Chief Masterson.” Danny kept his face forward.

“Archie your rules will be the same, except you won’t be getting paid for the morning feedings.”

“That’s bullshit!”

“Watch your mouth! You dragged Danny into this deal, and you have been leading by the wrong example.”

“When do we get free-time to ourselves?!” Archie whined.

Kyle looked at his watch, “When you’re back in your rooms from 7 pm to 4 am. You both need a serious wake up call.”

They drove the rest of way back to the farm in silence. Since Jo was still at school for a few more hours, Kyle got them working on mowing and watering. Once Jo came home they all got started on cleaning out the horse stalls.

“It’s rake, scoop, fill.” Jo explained after they tied out the horses, “Work smarter not harder.”

Danny grabbed a rake and cleared out the straw from two of the stalls, moving on to shovel the horse shit into a wheelbarrow they were sharing and then filling in the stalls with clean straw bedding.

“You’re so fast Danny, thank you!” Jo was thrilled her after school chores were not all her responsibility.

“I’m gonna go piss.” Archie grumbled and threw his rake down.

“You ever ride a horse, Danny?” Jo asked as Danny helped her finish her two stalls.

“No.”

“Want to?” Jo put their tools away, “Come on.”

Danny followed Jo out to the rink and watched as she saddled up one of the horses like a pro.

“This is Champion. I call her Champ. So, hold her reins with this hand, put your left foot in here, hand here and step up and over.”

Danny followed her instructions and threw his right leg over Champ and near the stirrup on the other side. Champ took a couple of steps, just as nervous as Danny was to be up there.

Jo showed him what the different rein movements meant to Champ and how to use his legs and feet to get her going. By the time Archie came back from the bathroom, Danny had Champ trotting around the rink.

“You guys didn’t finish my stalls?” Archie half-joked.

“I didn’t challenge Scott to a duel today—“ Jo shrugged.

“He flicked me, I didn’t touch the guy!”

“Okay, okay. Why are you so angry all the time?” Jo probed, “The cousin I remember was always so laid back, except for when you’re on the roof of course.” Jo chuckled.

“Because none of this is my fault—“

“So are you just going to be a victim all summer or are you going to embrace this shit, because after this moment I never want to hear you say that driving drunk right into the back of a cop car was someone else’s fault.”

“Okay, you’re right.”

Jo helped Danny get the horses back in for the night just as Archie completed his work.

“You going to Regina’s party?” Archie asked Jo, still trying to figure out a way for them to tag along.

“Regina Crane? No, I have never been invited to one of her parties. She’s not going to start now—“

“Damnit.”

“Thanks for showing me how to ride Champ. That was amazing.” Danny needed that.

“Champ’s helped me through a time or two. I figured she’d do the same for you. Let’s eat.” They all walked back to the house together.

Kyle kept his word and cooked steaks, potatoes and corn on the grill. He didn’t really make anything, but at least he hadn’t ordered pizza. Danny was super thankful for this meal, vowing to never miss breakfast ever again.

Danny took over washing the dishes tonight. Once they were all drying in the rack Danny could feel the weight of the day catching up with him. Waking up at 3:30 was no joke. He made his way into the living room where Kyle and Tess were snuggled in watching tv.

“Chief Masterson, I’m sorry about today. I promise that I didn’t do whatever Mr. Porter thinks he saw, but I’m sorry that I caused problems for you anyway. I’ll do better, I’ll try harder.”

“Okay. Apology accepted.”

“Do you believe me?” Danny pushed further, desperate to know where he stood.

“I do.” Kyle nodded.

“Danny, I teach a pottery class Tuesday night.” Tess began, “Jo always comes with me as my assistant, but maybe you would like come too? I can teach you some things, get you out of the house.”

“I’d like that, but what about the horses?”

“I think Archie and Kyle can handle it for one night.” Tess smiled.

“Okay.”

“Good night Danny.”

Danny dragged himself upstairs and stretched a bit, not used to this level of physical activity. One thing would be for sure, he’d be in great shape by the end of the summer.

Around 8:30 pm Danny’s eyes could barely stay open. Just as he was drifting off he heard some thumps that his mind couldn’t rationally explain away. He suddenly wasn’t tired, his adrenaline pumping as a figure appeared in the tree outside his window.

“Oh shit—“

Danny shot out of bed and opened his window quietly, squinting and realizing it was Lacey hanging like Spiderman from a few key branches on her mission to get up to the second floor windows.

“What are you doing?!” Danny whisper-yelled as he helped her inside.

“Oh my god I haven’t don’t that in years!” She giggled.

“W—wh—“ Danny couldn’t think of what to say first.

“What? I got the chapstick.” Lacey held up her new tube of chapstick, “I hope you like cherry.” She smiled big.

Danny smiled back, the two of them stepping in closer. Lacey wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him softly. Danny never imagined that this would be how his night would end. He brought his hands to Lacey’s waist and pulled her closer, sliding them up her back and holding her tight.

“I like cherry.” He replied when they finally broke apart, “Why are you here?”

Lacey shrugged, “I wanted to see you, taste those lips,” she pointed to his mouth, “and to give youuu, this!” She fished around in her pocket before pulling out a burner phone.

“Seriously?” Danny took the phone and inspected it.

“It’s got my number in there already.” Lacey beamed and went back for another kiss, Danny happily accepting.

“Thank you.”

“You bet. I know how lonely house arrest can be without contact with the outside world.”

“You got in trouble because of the smoking thing?”

“Umm, yes. I get in trouble for breathing. I just got in trouble today—for putting my hands, well you know, where they didn’t belong.” Lacey slid her arms down from around Danny’s neck and stopped at Danny’s waistband.

“Yeah? Where were they again?” He played with her.

Lacey bit her lip and slid her hands along the outside of his waist and rested her palms against the front of his thighs, very careful to steer clear of his crotch area.

Danny swallowed hard and brought his hands up to cradle Lacey’s jaw, tipping her chin up, “I do believe he was mistaken, because it definitely feels like they belong there.” Danny nodded and kissed her this time, searching, deep.

Lacey melted into it, never being kissed like this before by anyone. She stroked up and down the front of his thighs, still too nervous to venture outside of this trajectory.

Danny’s hands left Lacey’s face and traveled down the outside of her arms, working to pull her jacket off.

“Can you stay?” He asked her carefully, waiting for her tiny nod yes before ripping the jacket the rest of the way off.

Danny’s lips sucked hers briefly in a sexy attempt to break their seal so he could move to suck behind her ear, pepper kisses along her jaw line and lick her neck. He had her so warmed up that she had stopped trying to reciprocate. Danny found that charming, yet odd.

“You good?” He checked in with her as his hands messed around with trying to decipher which type of bra she had on.

“Mhm.” Lacey was panting.

Danny pulled back and yanked his shirt off in one smooth motion, pausing to look down at himself and back at Lacey for her reaction. Lacey’s eyes were dark, she reached up and ran her hands all over his chest and down his abs.

Danny sat down gingerly on the edge of his bed.

“You okay?” Lacey was concerned as she watched Danny’s beautiful face wince in pain.

“Yeah, farm’s just kicking my ass right now. It’ll get better—“

“Lay on your stomach.” Lacey instructed.

Danny grumbled as he levered himself down to lie on his belly, finding relief once he got there. Lacey crawled over and straddled his legs, moving up until she was sitting above his ass.

She leaned forward and began giving him a massage, Danny trying his best not to groan and moan as she worked out the kinks in his back and shoulders.

A few minutes later Danny struggled with either passing out or flipping over and continuing to make out with the gorgeous woman who came to see him. He chose the latter.

“Umph!”

Danny surprised Lacey and rolled over, somehow keeping her sitting at his waist. Lacey became acutely aware that she was now resting against Danny’s substantial junk.

Danny’s hands went straight for her hips and he held her there while he shifted beneath her until they were both more comfortable. Lacey squirmed a little too much and ended up finding a slow rhythm she hadn’t planned to show him while they were both fully clothed.

Danny let his eyes trail down to her crotch and back up to her face over and over as she grinded against him. Lacey could feel his body pulsing with life beneath her.

“Maybe we should slow it down?” He offered, not sure how far she had wanted this to go tonight and if he was honest, he wasn’t sure he was ready for this yet either.

Lacey leaned forward to lay on Danny’s chest while her hips continued to roll around his now activated crotch.

“Do we have to?” She begged into his face.

Danny’s hands flew to her ass and he aided her effort.

“I don’t want to regret anything—“ He wanted to make sure she was comfortable.

“I know.” Lacey kissed him again and got her ass moving.

“Damn.” Danny wanted to know what she felt like more than anything.

He slid his hands between them and unbuttoned her jeans, pulling her zipper down and sliding his hand inside. Danny found no panties and a dripping wet mess, nothing turning him on more than this very moment his balls ached.

“All this for me?” Danny asked with a cocky edge as he circled her wetness around Lacey’s clit with his fingers and softly bucked his hips up every time she bounced down.

“Maybe ten percent for Michael B Jordan, ten percent for Ryan Gosling—“

“Eighty percent for me then?”

“Mhm, yes.” Lacey slopped against his mouth as Danny found a particularly sensitive spot to rub.

“Can I taste you?”

Lacey pulled his hand out of her pants and pushed it up to his mouth, “Do that on your own time if you wish, I want to ride—“

Lacey shimmied her pants off and began pulling Danny’s down enough to free his perfect swollen dick.

“Hey, hey—this is so fast.” Danny could not believe how this day had progressed, “We can’t be loud—“ He did his best to dissuade her, his mind and his crotch not synched and starting to fight each other for dominance, “I don’t have condoms.” His mind claimed brief victory.

“Do we need them?”

That was it, his brain short circuited.

“Don’t we?” Danny squinted at her as her perfect V sat just below his cock and she picked him up to begin stroking him.

She crawled forward, took his tip and rubbed it in her honey before he pushed himself inside, Lacey sliding down inch by inch. Danny’s hips betrayed him and nudged upward impatiently, his hands getting involved and helping to pull her down to take him deeper.

“I like that—“ He admitted shamelessly.

“Knees down, hands off—“ Lacey instructed, Danny responded immediately.

Lacey rode him fast, her knees working over time as she fucked him the way she had imagined all day. Danny didn’t last long, pulling her down to lay on top of him so he could hold her close.

“That wetness is one hundred percent mine now.” Danny asserted, reallocating her previous figures as her pussy danced all around his cock.

Lacey sunk her teeth into Danny’s shoulder as she came to hide her need to scream.

“Where do you want this nut?” He asked softly.

“In this pussy—“ Lacey groaned into his ear.

“Yeah?”

“Hey!”

“Why are you yelling?” Danny looked up at Lacey’s face, which he could no longer see as clearly, “Wait—please”

“Danny, Danny! Wake up!”

Danny jolted awake, Jo standing beside his bed, huge tent in his pants.

“Jo?” He was so disoriented.

“Wow, sex dream about Lacey after the first day? You really do like her huh? Can you shut up now or do you need to take care of that first?” Jo pointed to the tent.

Danny flipped his blankets around him, his painful erection slowly softening as he absorbed another embarrassing Masterson moment.

“How loud was I?”

“It was borderline.”

“It was so real—“ Danny tried to hold onto the fleeting details.

“I can see that.”

“Yeah, sorry Jo.”

“Night bro.”


	5. Chapter 5

“This is bullshit.” Archie grumbled as he tossed hay to the horses early the next morning.

“Shhh, bitch later, I like it quiet.” Danny grumbled back, exhausted overall, his strange dream last night not helping the matter.

Archie ignored him, “We gotta get Jo invited to that party, it’s the only way we’re going to get out of here, unless we sneak out—“

“Fuck off, don’t use Jo like some sort of pawn or something. Get yourself into Regina’s panties on your own for Christ’s sake.”

“Damn, why are you so grumpy?”

“I’m not, you’re just an asshole!”

“You can miss me with the insults, right now.” Archie warned.

“This is all your fault, you know? You talked me into having that party, you drove. You’re always an inconsiderate prick—“

“Whoa. Don’t keep pushing me Danny.”

“Or what?”

“Desai—“ They both knew that Archie would kick Danny’s ass if pushed to go that far.

Danny blew out his frustration and slammed all the feeding supplies back where they belonged.

“I’m sore, I’m tired—I’m trying to get through this summer without getting sent to jail and it’s only the second day. I can’t deal with your constant bitching on top of it all.” Danny headed for the house.

Archie jogged after him, “You’re right, I’m sorry. I just need to get out here.”

Danny was first to the breakfast table this time, trying to ignore the smirk on Jo’s face when she arrived.

“How’d you sleep, Danny?” She asked loud enough for everyone to hear.

“Great. Thanks.” He punctuated each word aggressively.

Jo smiled to herself proudly like any other bratty sister would. 

“Hey Mom, I got invited to a graduation party this weekend.” She switched gears, “It’s on Saturday night. Can I go?”

“That’s lovely, Jo. Where is it?” Tess shot Kyle a look.

“It’s at Regina Crane’s house.”

Kyle put down his coffee cup and stared across the table at Jo.

“Regina Crane invited you to her graduation party?” Kyle asked skeptically.

“Wow—“ Jo began to object.

“He didn’t mean it like that.” Tess tried fix her husband’s brilliant thought process.

“Yes he did.”

“What time is the party?” Tess asked.

“It’s starts at like 9 I think. I’ll have time to clean out the stalls before I go.”

“What time will you be back?”

“It’ll be late, or early, depending on how you look at it. I’ll be careful.”

Archie and Danny kept their mouths shut while Jo worked the room all on her own.

Kyle sighed, he knew he couldn’t keep Jo away from this stuff anymore. She had always done what they had asked her to do, never caused them any trouble. He had no credible objections, only overprotective dad ones.

“Okay, you can go, but you have to be back by 1 am.”

“Dad—“

“That’s four hours.” Kyle defended.

“Yeah if I get there right at 9, who goes to a party on time?!”

“She has a point.” Tess shrugged.

“Fine, 2 am, but that’s it.”

“Can the boys come with me?” Jo went for it and the three of them stared at Kyle with big, hopeful eyes.

“Is that what this is? Are you asking for them?” Kyle shook his head and looked between his nephew and Danny.

Before they could say anything Jo took over again.

“Yes and no. Look, they didn’t ask me to do anything, okay? But I am asking for them because I’ve never been invited to anything like this before. I just thought they would enjoy a break and they’d be helping me out too. Rico’s also coming so we could both use their help.”

“Rico too? Should I be concerned?” Kyle stared at Jo incredulously, remembering busting them making out in the barn earlier this year.

“Maybe another reason to let them go with me?” Jo said innocently.

Kyle stirred his coffee as he contemplated Jo’s request.

“It’s only Tuesday.” Tess pointed out, “Do you think the three of you can stay out of trouble until it’s party time?” 

“Yes.” Danny said honestly.

“Definitely.” Archie said at the same time.

“I’m never in trouble—“ Jo shrugged.

“I’ll have to talk to Gloria Crane to see how she feels about having two grown kids on probation at Regina’s party—“ Kyle shook his head, “If she wants nothing to do with it then there’s nothing else I can do.”

“You really have to talk to her mom?” Jo cringed, “This is why I never get invited anywhere! They all think I’m a narc because of you!” 

“I have to tell her. I’ll leave you out of it. They have a curfew they’ll miss so Gloria would have to agree to take responsibility for them while they’re there.”

“Fine.” Jo shrugged.

“For the record, I think this a terrible idea.” Kyle looked at everyone in the room, “You three are under twenty one, am I being heard?”

“We won’t drink—“ Archie promised.

“I know how old I am—“ Jo rolled her eyes.

“I’ll watch out for them.” Danny promised.

Kyle’s eyes lingered on Danny’s for a few moments and he gave him a nod.

“I’ll talk to Gloria today.”

******

“Jo, you’re my hero.” Archie almost squealed when they arrived at school with their police escort for the day.

“Seriously, Jo, thank you.” Danny agreed.

“Well, since you owe me big-time now, how about you get me and Rico invited to this party.” Jo smiled.

“You weren’t invited?” Archie shook his head.

“No, Regina hates me and my friends. I’m not looking for a pity invite though—“

“Then why do you want to go?” Danny wondered.

“I’ll get you the invite.” Archie promised.

“Dude, they’re not even friends—“ Danny was strangely so protective of her.

“I want to do something crazy and fun before high school is over—“ Jo tried to explain.

“Oh no, no you really don’t.” Danny closed his eyes, it was like history repeating itself.

“I’m not going to drink like you idiots, okay?”

“I wasn’t drinking that night.” Danny said defensively.

“Yeah, OK.” Jo rolled her eyes, she did not believe that at all, “I want to bring my new boyfriend, have a good time and I figured you two would want to chase Regina and Lacey around for a night.” Jo shrugged.

“Boyfriend?!” Archie and Danny said at the same time.

“I thought you liked me?” Danny said defensively.

“I said you were hot, don’t get it twisted—“

“You asked if I had a girlfriend!” Danny objected.

“Well, as soon as the words ‘sister vibes’ left you mouth, I moved on.” Jo smiled.

“Hey Jo.” Rico stammered as he walked up beside the love of his life.

“Hey!” She beamed.

“Wait, Rico?” Danny pointed at the waif of a young man. 

“Want to go to a party this weekend?”

“W-What party? Regina’s party?”

“Yep.”

“You got invited?”

“We’ll both be invited shortly, right guys?” She looked between her cousin and basically her new brother.

“Yep.” Archie confirmed again.

“Come with me? Archie and Danny will be there.”

“I’m not sure I’m ready for the Green Grove party scene.” Rico replied, showing how uncomfortable he was around the two men he considered to be extremely dangerous.

“You and me both, Rico.” Danny admitted, patting him on the shoulder, “I’m heading to the stage.” He said before walking away from this bad idea.

Rico exhaled once the guys were far enough away, “I feel like I just lived through a Hitchcock movie—“

“Stop being so dramatic, Danny’s totally nice.” Jo huffed and walked away.

“I—I’m a theatre guy!” Rico shouted, trying to remind her that being dramatic was his thing.

Danny and Archie climbed onto the stage, Jo close behind. Lacey walked in right after, never usually on time for this project and yet, here she was.

“The stuff dreams are made of.” Jo said under her breath as Lacey walked up beside Danny.

Jo couldn’t help giggling, her tiny rumble turning into a moderate laughing fit making several others start giggling for no reason.

“What’s so funny?” Lacey giggled now too.

“I’m sorry.” Jo covered her mouth and tried to stop but she had a hard time reeling it in.

“I’m gonna to kill you.” Danny said softly, yet just loud enough for their rent-a-cop to hear him.

“Desai!”

Danny looked over at the officer in surprise at the forcefulness with which he had addressed him. 

The officer curled his fingers and motioned for him to step off stage, “Come here a minute.”

Danny swallowed nervously and headed right over.

“Is there a problem?” The officer asked.

“No?” Danny hoped he guessed right.

“What did I just hear you say to Miss Masterson?”

Danny had to really think about what they were even saying other than laughing—oh.

“I was joking—“ he held his arm up as he tried to explain.

“Put your arm down. Now.”

Danny lowered his arm carefully, now terrified things were about to get much worse for him.

“I’m not going to hurt anyone.”

“Watch what you say. You don’t go to school here, you’re a criminal. Don’t forget it.”

“Yes, sir. Can I go back?”

The cop gave a nod and Danny climbed back up on stage, the girls no longer laughing.

“I’m sorry, Danny.” Jo said sincerely.

“Me too.” Danny hated this.

******

To further the unease, Samuel Porter arrived and grabbed a seat in the center of the auditorium during their first dry run. 

Danny hadn’t seen him enter at first, he and Lacey continuing their effort to try and get to know each other better as they joked and carried on while poor Phoebe tried to direct them.

“And we’re walking to your mark, good, and we’re stopping and looking out into the crowd—“ Phoebe coaxed these checked-out seniors through the rehearsal.

Once Lacey stepped out for her lines, Danny noticed her demeanor change.

“A little louder next time Lacey, very good. Okay, now Danny, you’re walking to the center there—“ Phoebe waved him out and that’s when he saw Samuel.

“I did a rewrite, hope that’s okay?” Danny confessed to Phoebe.

“Oh, my conclusion, the one you nailed yesterday? You rewrote it.” Phoebe was not pleased.

“I made a few notes. If you don’t like it I’ll change it back—“

“No please, let’s hear it.”

Danny wanted the opportunity to explain to Lacey what had happened to him and how he got where he was, but with not being able to connect on their own and talk about it, he got creative. He’d speak to her through this monologue.

This performance was meant to be all about forgiveness, responsibility and doing the right thing, now that he faced both Porters, Danny would also speak directly to Samuel too and try to remove even the tiniest piece of doubt about him from his mind.

Danny projected, his voice steady and at the perfect volume. He held eye contact with Samuel as he spoke from his heart and hoped that Lacey was listening somewhere. 

Danny began by reiterating the points that were made throughout the program. He ended it with a snip from his own experiences.

“Just when you think you know what your future will hold, you’re faced with the consequences of a preventable mistake. You don’t know how long or how deep those repercussions will span throughout your life. Take it from me, a month ago I was a senior in high school, just like many of you. Today, I am on probation. If I mess up in any way, I am going to jail—“ Danny pointed to the resource officer, “I’m being babysat by an officer. I have a curfew, I can’t leave the state. I have to complete community service time for my entire summer and likely beyond—but I am still the same person I was a month ago. A good kid, a good friend, a good neighbor. I’ve always had good grades, never had detention. I don’t drink, I don’t do drugs. I made a mistake—just one. I had a party. My friends brought alcohol and I said nothing. Another friend, who drank that alcohol, decided to drive that night. They got into an accident, smashed right into a police car actually. I didn’t do either of those things, but here I am. So you see, just taking on the responsibility of hosting a party changed my life forever. I didn’t drink that night, but I didn’t protect my friends either. I’m not a victim here, I’m learning a lesson and I am so, so sorry. I am forever grateful that no one was injured or killed by my actions like you’ve seen enacted here today. So look at me.” Danny paused and held his arms out at his sides, “Think about me when you go out with your friends or throw your next party. You have the power to make good decisions. Choose to protect yourself. Protect your loved ones and the loved ones of people you don’t even know. Every choice you make affects someone else, affects your future. Think before you drink.”

Samuel sat there just as solemn as he was before Danny’s speech. Maybe he wasn’t listening, maybe he didn’t care. All Danny could do was try to get him to understand that he made a mistake and that he was trying to fix it.

******

“Was that really what happened?” Lacey asked as Danny helped to move props around backstage.

“Yeah, that’s what happened.”

“Wow, that’s—“ Lacey shook her head, Danny didn’t deserve what was happening to him.

“We’re keeping your version.” Phoebe smiled as she passed by.

“You think your dad might see me any differently now?”

“Probably not.”

“What about you?” Danny decided to shoot his shot, “Do you want anything to do with me?”

He stopped organizing and looked over at her, his big brown eyes remaining soft and hopeful.

“Your cop is looking for you.” Jo came out of nowhere before Danny got his answer, “Hey Lacey.”

“Jo.” Lacey said, eyes still on Danny.

“You guys trading dream stories over here?”

“Jo—“

“Dream stories?”

“Do you want that invite or not?” Danny warned.

“Just got it.” Jo smiled smugly.

“What dream?” Lacey wanted in on this.

“Just thought I’d help—“ Jo threw her hands up.

“I don’t need your help.”

“Fine, I’ll tell your cop you left then.” Jo said as she began to shuffle away.

“Wait—Jo, Jo!” He called after her.

Lacey grabbed Danny’s arm as he tried to chase after her.

“Dream?”

Danny grinned nervously, a little overwhelmed that Jo was seemingly on her way to get him in trouble and yet not wanting to miss an opportunity to talk to Lacey….just not about this.

“Jo may have overheard a dream I had last night.”

“Overheard?”

“I guess I woke her up, apparently I talk in my sleep—“

“Well why would I care about that? Was I in it?”

“The dream? Yeah, you were in it.” He answered softly.

“Give me some of the details, maybe I could make it come true?” Lacey offered, having no idea he had dreamt of her laying him the fuck out in his bed.

“This definitely isn’t the right place to talk about that—“

“That good, huh?” Lacey smiled knowingly at him.

“Lacey, I like you. I’d like to keep getting to know you if you’re interested? Maybe you can come over for dinner sometime? Tonight? Every night?” Danny was more nervous than he expected or ever had been before.

“I can’t tonight—“

“Oh, okay. Another time maybe.” Danny assumed she wasn’t interested. Damn it.

“Lacey!” Samuel came around the corner with Danny’s resource officer in tow.

“Hey, dad! We just finished.” Lacey said quickly, “This is Danny, Danny this is my father Samuel Porter.” Lacey introduced them so fast her father had no time to shut her down.

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Porter.” Danny stuck his hand out and took a step forward.

“Time to go.” Samuel completely ignored Danny and stuck his thumb out behind him.

“Danny is saying hello.” Lacey pushed her father a bit.

“Hello, Danny.” Samuel gave the young man a single nod, “Let’s go now.”

“I have to be in chemistry in ten minutes, where are we going?” Lacey didn’t budge so Danny didn’t either. 

If Lacey wanted to make a point of her father acknowledging him, he wanted to keep trying too. His confidence was shaken when she hadn’t immediately confirmed her interest in him, but maybe that wasn’t her love language. He tried a different approach.

“Mr. Porter, I’d like to invite you to dinner, you, Mrs. Porter and Lacey—“

“What about her sister?” Samuel asked.

“Oh, sure of course—“

“Her brother?”

“Yes.”

“She doesn’t have a brother.” Samuel glared at Danny, “You don’t know each other at all.”

“You’re right, but I’d like to.” Danny replied bravely, ready to shit his pants, “I’m trying to start somewhere.”

“That’s not up to me.” Samuel held his hands up and looked at his daughter.

“Let’s go to dinner.” Lacey told her father.

“This will be at the Masterson’s I assume?” Samuel inquired.

“Yes, sir.”

“Alright, I’ll go.”

“Really?” Danny couldn’t stop the smile that spread across his face even if he tried, “Tomorrow night, six? I’ll cook.” Danny formally invited them.

“So I should start taking my tums now then?” Samuel asked in his same gruff and flat way.

A joke, that was a joke right? Danny was sure of it and laughed. Maybe his speech had seeped in a little bit.

“We’ll be there.” Samuel said and pulled Lacey along to walk with him.

“Chief didn’t say anything about you and Archie being here past noon.” Danny’s escort noted out loud, “But I can see both of you were still working so I won’t report it to your probation officer, however, I will let Chief know.”

“Okay—“ Danny couldn’t stand this guy.

“I’m pretty sure that fishing for dates isn’t supposed to be part of your community service time.” He added.

“I’m trying to make community connections here, officerrr—Garrett.” Danny read his name badge for the first time.

“Community connections.” Officer Garrett mocked him with air quotes and rolled his eyes, “I’ll bet. Let’s go kid.”

******

Danny was on a cloud, floating through the rest of his afternoon. He and Archie had watered things and had the animals all cleaned up just as Jo came home and would normally be starting these chores.

“Wow, thanks guys. I guess we should help each other get invited to parties more often if this is what happens.” 

“We owed you for sure.” Archie was stoked that Jo helped him with one thing he could now look forward to.

“You ready to help with mom’s class tonight?” Jo asked Danny.

“Sure, sounds fun—“

“We get to move all the clay blocks for people and get them stuff, it’s tedious.”

“Why do you do all this stuff?” Archie wondered.

Jo shrugged, “You just gotta jump in and help make things happen. We’re a family you know?”

Danny did not know but he was enjoying learning all of these new things. He felt seriously left out of life in general, just playing video games and trying to be quiet for as far back as he could remember. He felt like he was living for the first time.

Tess and Kyle came home together with a load of groceries that Jo, Archie and Danny helped unload. As Danny brought in the last of the bags he decided it was time to ask the question.

“Tess, Chief Masterson, could I have a friend over for dinner tomorrow?”

“A friend? From the school?” Tess sounded thrilled.

“Yes.”

“Who is it?” Kyle asked, interested in which one of the kids Danny had made a connection with. 

Danny leaned back against the counter, subconsciously bracing himself. Kyle picked up on all of it.

“Lacey Porter.”

Kyle immediately exhaled and scrubbed a hand down his face, his fingers massaging his temples for a few strokes before resetting himself.

“Kyle, I think it’s great that Danny is making friends.” Tess said cryptically.

“I may have also invited her whole family—“ Danny confessed.

“Tess—“ Kyle was on the verge of a total meltdown.

“I normally would never just invite people over without asking first but the opportunity came so I took it.” Danny explained, “I’d really like to get to know Lacey better.”

“We have a long history with the Porter family.” Tess said carefully, “Lacey and Jo were very good friends for a while.”

“Until Lacey decided to shave Jo’s eyebrows off at her twelfth birthday party.”

Archie laughed at that, “You feel asleep first?!”

“Shut up.” Jo punched his arm.

“That stuff happened at my school too.” Danny looked off in the distance, “No one was ever a fan of my long hair I’ll just say that.”

“Not until now—“ Jo raised her now fully-grown-in eyebrows.

Kyle looked at Jo, trying to decipher what that meant.

“Samuel and I were friends too, but once his child chose to join my daughter’s bullies and he did nothing about it as the superintendent of the school, that’s when our friendship ended. They haven’t been welcome here since.”

“Twelve, when was that, like seventh grade? It’s been like five years Uncle Kyle, maybe it’s time to move on.” Archie said in a rare moment of clarity for him.

“You’re right, that’s a very mature stance to take on it Archie, thank you. What about you Jo? They’re not welcome if you’re not comfortable having them here.” Tess said in total mama bear mode.

Danny wondered what it must feel like to have your mother automatically in your corner like that.

“Lacey and I are cool. She never bullied me before that night or after. I definitely think that Regina and Sarita pressured her. Mr. Porter doesn’t give me any trouble either.”

“I may have also told Mr. Porter that I would cook?” Danny decided to just rip off the bandaid.

“Is there anything else you ‘may have’ done Danny?” Kyle asked reluctantly.

“Kyle, let’s just move forward here. What did you want to make for them, Danny?”

Danny had no idea.

“Oh! Lacey likes those fancy potatoes you pipe into swirls with a piping bag. She also loves cranberry glazed chicken in the puffed pastry—“ Jo suggested.

“Are you being serious or are you just ‘trying to help’?” Danny was skeptical of Jo’s intentions after all of her ‘helpful’ dream talk at school today.

“I know her.” Jo said, “Make soup I don’t care.”

“You up for fancy chicken and fancy potatoes? I’ll show you.” Tess offered her assistance.

“Yes please. Thank you, seriously, thank you.” Danny was psyched.


	6. Chapter 6

“I need clean water, this water isn’t clean—“ Tim Calvert complained to Danny after he had set down the water bowls at everyone’s pottery station.

“Right away, sir.” Danny took the bowl back and glared at Jo as he rushed by to refill the guys damn water bowl with the same sink water he got the first time.

“Better.” Tim said as if he were offering the words as a tip.

“Thank you.” Danny gave his best closed-mouth grin.

Tess sat at the front, working a square block of clay into tonight’s pottery project. The bell of the studio door jingled again and Danny turned to greet and seat whomever came for the class, his eyes landing on Lacey and who he assumed was Mrs. Porter trailing behind her.

“Lacey, hey.” Danny smiled, Tess watching their interaction closely as she continued working the clay.

“Hi Danny.” Lacey was surprised to see him, “Mom, this is Danny Desai, Danny this is my mother.” Lacey introduced them proudly.

“Mrs. Porter, so nice to meet you.” Danny smiled.

“Oh call me Judy—“

“No ma’am, I don’t believe I will. Lacey Porter’s mother certainly deserves a title of some kind.”

Lacey smiled at that and shook her head, her dimples popping and absolutely crushing Danny’s chest with their magic. He would do anything to continue seeing her smile.

“You better calm down now, before all that sweetness rots your teeth.” Judy shook her head and turned to her daughter, “Don’t fall for that stuff—“ She pointed at him.

This must have been why Lacey couldn’t do dinner tonight, Danny realized.

“Sit wherever you’d like, Jo and I will get you set up.” Danny stepped aside so the Porter women could proceed with their mother/daughter night.

Judy gave Tess a wave and settled into her usual spot.  
Despite Kyle and Samuel feeling the need to defend their middle school daughter’s honor for years past a one-off bad decision, Tess and Judy had always remained friendly.

Danny and Jo brought over their clay and supplies and got them all set up. Judy watched Danny choose to set her up and not Lacey.

He paid attention to all of the details and took her coat, working to make her as comfortable as possible but somehow not making it feel like he was just trying to placate her. Judy found that refreshing.

“Danny, you know what I would love right now? A coffee.” Judy said plainly.

“How do you take it?”

“Black.”

“Lacey?” Danny waited for her order too.

“Nothing for me, thank you.”

Danny dashed off.

“Mom, they don’t serve drinks here—“ Lacey looked at her mother like she was crazy.

“Jo, I’ve gotta run next door real quick. I’ll be right back.”

“Danny, wh—?” Jo spun around as Danny bolted toward Johnny Cake’s diner.

Three minutes later Danny came back with a piping hot coffee for Judy Porter, thankful he still had his leftover lunch money on him. He really needed to get paid.

“Here we are, Mrs. Porter. Let me know if you would like anything else.”

“Thank you.” Judy gave Danny an approving nod.

“Oh my god mom.” Lacey chewed at her bottom lip.

“So, this is the boy.” Judy kept her eyes on Danny as she sipped her hot, bitter coffee.

Lacey didn’t reply right away. She knew this would be a difficult process.

“Dad sent me a video from rehearsal. You really want to get involved with someone on parole, Lacey? I know I raised you to want more than that for your life—“

“If you listened to Danny’s speech then you know he didn’t do anything other than try to have a normal party. He can’t go back and change it so he’s trying to make it right.”

“He’s required to volunteer for this school thing.” Judy clarified.

“But he wasn’t even supposed to say any of that. Phoebe wrote her standard shiny monologue for this and Danny rewrote it. If he was just going through the motions he could have just said what was asked and left it alone.”

“I think your father likes him.”

Lacey perked up, “Really?!”

“Calm down, I just met him. If he’s anything like Charlie was—“ Judy shook her head.

This is what Lacey had been dreading. Comparisons to Charlie.

Lacey’s first serious boyfriend, Charlie McBride, wormed his way into her parent’s hearts and the pair dated from freshman through junior year. At the end of junior year, Charlie managed to get involved with a bad drug deal.

He basically stood beside a friend as they sold tainted heroin to someone who later died after shooting it up. Charlie was charged as an accessory and had been in prison for the last year, serving the first of a three year sentence.

Lacey broke it off with him before his trial and took a long break from dating after that. She wanted more than a long term boyfriend that had a criminal record.

Now that she had met Danny, she had struggled with the fact that the potential for jail time was there. If Lacey was being honest, she was scared to invest herself in a relationship like that again.

Lacey knew there was something different about Danny. Their connection was strong and addictive. Seeing him brought her so many feelings and she decided that for this summer, she would follow those feelings and just let go.

“He’s nothing like Charlie.” Lacey said as she stood and looped her apron around her neck and untangled the straps.

“Need a hand?”

Danny was right there to unknot the waist ties on the apron, crossing them around her back and stepping in to hand the ends to Lacey so she could tie them around front. He hadn’t meant to step in so close behind her, but they were like magnets. She smelled so good.

Lacey glanced over at her mom who was busy fiddling with her pottery wheel, quickly darting her eyes over at Tess who was still concentrating on her piece. She took this moment to slide her palms along the outside of Danny’s forearms as he held the straps on either side of her waist.

Danny closed his eyes at her touch, her hands warm and soft. Lacey let her fingertips dip into the groves between his fingers as she grabbed the straps from him and finished tying the apron.

“Thanks.” Lacey took a step forward to help correct his accidental violation of her personal space.

“You’re welcome.”

Once class began, Jo took over catering to their patrons like she always had and gave Danny the opportunity to try the class. He hadn’t made anything out of clay since first grade and certainly never using a pottery wheel.

Everyone had a blast, this particular class was part of a tea-set series. Tonight was teacup number two of four. The fifth class was reserved for the culmination of all skills learned where they would focus on the teapot.

Judy watched Danny for a good portion of the class, his charm and positivity as he interacted with Tess and the class members truly painted such a nice picture of the handsome young man.

Danny made the saddest teacup ever, cleaned up and began helping Jo clean up after their patrons as each of them added their cups to the kiln.

As Lacey added hers, Danny decided to try to build on his earlier success with tomorrow’s dinner plans.

“Can I walk you home?” Danny asked as privately as possible.

“It’s over a mile from here, you really want to do that?”

“Definitely.”

“Mom, I’m gonna walk home with Danny.” Lacey said as Judy carefully added her cup to the kiln.

“Half-hour, I expect you on the porch.” Judy added and gave them both a look so they knew she wasn’t playing.

Danny untied his apron and walked over to Tess and Jo hurriedly, unable to mask his happiness.

“I’m sorry to just bail, I’d like to walk Lacey home if that’s okay with you?”

Tess checked her watch, “Normally I’d say yes Danny but you have to be on our property by nine, it’s already just after eight. It’s a mile there, in the opposite direction and then two miles to our house—“

“I’ll make it, no worries.” Danny’s face fell a little, he’d probably have to run home but it was worth it.

“Kyle’s going to kill us both if you’re not back.” Tess tried again.

“I’ll be there.” Danny smiled and walked Lacey out of the store.

They walked silently together as they made their way through downtown and away from eavesdropping neighbors. The people of Green Grove knew who Danny and Archie were and they were wary of them.

“You cold?” Danny asked, prepared to wrap her up in his flannel shirt and never let her go.

“Not at all, what a nice night.” Lacey smiled and looked up at the starry sky above them.

“Alright, we have limited time so here goes—“

Lacey giggled at his preparation.

“So your parents are Samuel and Judy, do you have brothers and sisters?”

“One sister, Clara. She’s ten.”

“Clara, got it.”

“What are your parent’s names?” Lacey wondered.

“Vikram and Karen. I’m an only child.” Danny said with a bit of gravity.

“Did you graduate high school?”

“Yep, two weeks early, unfortunately.” Danny nodded.

“Are you going to college in the fall?”

“I honestly cannot commit or prepare for college this fall when I don’t know how long it’ll take me to complete this community service. Will I end up going to college? Yes.”

“What do you want to be?”

“A teacher maybe, I don’t know.”

“Can you be a teacher with a record?” Lacey tried not to sound like an asshole, it was a legit question.

“Thanks to Archie’s deal, if I complete the community service and manage to not violate my probation, this will be removed from my record. What about you, are you going to college?”

Danny suddenly connected that she may already be committed to a college somewhere far away. Maybe this summer would be it for them.

“I am going. I was accepted into a few, but I’m taking my father’s advice and I’m going to the community college here in Green Grove to take all the basic courses and then I’ll transfer. It’ll save us a ton of money.”

“That’s smart. So you’ll be around after this summer then.”

“I will.” Lacey smiled at him, they knew what that meant.

Lacey slowed down at the corner. Danny looked around curiously. She pointed to a beautiful saltbox home with a wrap-around porch. It was lovely and very Lacey.

“That’s my place.” She remained standing at the corner, “One last question each before I go and we have to answer honestly not matter what it is, deal?” Lacey bit her lip in anticipation.

“Because all of our other answers were probably lies—“  
Danny laughed at her.

“You don’t want another question, okay, I’ll see you—“

Danny stepped in her path and slid his hands to her waist to stop her from walking off.

“Okay, okay, fine. You go first.” Danny was equally excited by this.

“What happened in your dream?”

Danny groaned, “You set me up.” He ran his hands through his hair and dropped them to his sides, “Okay, alright, it was a sex dream, we were both in it so—“

“Where were we?”

“That’s two questions.”

Lacey bunched her face up, “Fine, I’ll save it up for next time. What’s your question?”

Danny stepped in close and looked down more than he did in her eyes, worried he’d waste a question if she declined to answer.

Lacey looked at her phone and held it up, “It’s been twenty seven minutes. You only have three more minutes before I have to go inside—“ She knew what he wanted, but he had to ask for it.

Danny’s confidence surged back up when he picked up that Lacey was offering him cues. They shared a connection and she was there with him, in this moment on this corner in front of her giant house.

Danny stared into her big brown eyes now and felt more calm and resolute than he ever had. These new feelings had excitement and joy bubbling behind them, a combination he’d never experienced before.

“May I kiss you?” He whispered.

“Yes.”

Lacey grabbed him and pulled him in before he had a moment to think. Once he realized that his lips were on hers he sprang into action and got his arms involved, bringing his hands up to hold her tight and smiling as their faces decided to change sides.

Lace pulled away first, Danny left lust-faced, his lips slightly parted and shiny from Lacey’s lip gloss. He was so beautiful, Lacey thought.

“Good night, Danny. See you tomorrow.” Lacey gave him a quick hug.

“Good night.”

He watched Lacey cross the street and disappear into her house. He turned and slowly walked back the way he came. Once he recognized downtown, the neon lights from the Johnny Cake’s clock tower snapped him out of his haze. It was 8:37.

“Fuck!”

Danny took off running. He knew he could run a nine minute mile, but that was at his best. He was sore from all of the hard work on the farm, he was wearing Doc Martens and pants and a flannel shirt.

He couldn’t tell how fast he was going, he couldn’t get into the normal running rhythm he could for soccer when he played on the school team back in the city. All he could think about was Lacey. Their kiss just changed his life.

Only a few days ago Danny had arrived reluctantly at the Masterson’s farm. Now here he was, motivated more than ever to do the best he could and move forward with his life. Green Grove was magical, he discovered new things every day and he felt like he was really part of something.

Danny was breathing hard now and starting to feel sprinkles on his face. Of course, he thought, rain for the last mile sounded like exactly the kind of thing that would happen to him.

He tried not to let it get him down, the rain, the fact that right at this moment he was literally running for the new life he wanted most. If he violated his probation, he’d go to jail and lose everything. His negative mind won and began spiraling.

How ironic would it be to connect with his soulmate and then not make it back in time to ever see her again? He ran harder, his legs ached, his lungs were pissed and boiling up clear beads of unspent phlegm in retaliation.

The light drizzle had turned into a healthy pour by the time Danny rounded the corner toward the house. The Masterson’s farm house sat at the top of a very long gravel road. The house sat on forty acres of land, which all began to the side and back of the house. Danny just needed to get to the driveway.

Danny’s boots were soaked inside and out. The contrast from running on pavement and then running on gravel slowed him down tremendously.

His hair was in his eyes and cemented all around his face. Danny’s flannel was drenched and had slid down his arms, bunching heavily at his elbows. He had no way to know what time it was, he prayed he didn’t just trade a whole life with Lacey just so he could learn a handful of basic shit about her.

Jo was sitting on the tire swing, he could see her in the dark blue, dusky light. Archie was pushing her, the giant willow tree it was attached to kept them both dry. Tess and Kyle were out covering the chicken coop with a tarp, there would be no fudging if he made it on time or not.

Facing the music was the thing he did best Danny joked to himself with the never ending self-sabotaging dialogue he always kept running in his head.

Danny ran right up to the swing, the four of them had all been watching him from the moment he began his climb up the gravel road. He dropped to his knees and just tried to breath, the rain now welcome as he reached up to manage his hair.

“EIGHT FIFTY-SEVEN.” Tess yelled from the chicken coops, setting the cows off mooing.

“Welcome home, Danny!” Kyle yelled with all his rain gear on.

“Dude, I can’t believe you did that.” Archie continued pushing Jo.

“You’ve got it bad—“ Jo giggled.

Danny flopped onto his back before he even dared to try crawling into the house and up the stairs. He thought about their walk, her smile, their kiss. She kissed him.

He rubbed his lips together briefly and finally felt Lacey’s lip gloss on them. He did it again. It was cherry.


	7. Chapter 7

“It’s literally a potato masher, Danny. Figure it out.” Jo scolded, super annoyed that he essentially knew nothing about anything.

Wednesday night dinner prep for the Porters was going as well as could be expected with a trinity of eighteen year olds at the helm. Tess worked mostly as Danny’s sous chef, helping him plan and move through cooking their menu for the evening.

They went with a layered goat cheese, chicken and cranberry mixture wrapped in a puff pastry braid, duchess potatoes and raw sugar snap peas. Everything they made was from scratch with all ingredients coming from the farm.

“Ice cream’s done. Should be set in time.” Kyle announced as he returned from the workshop where they made their own butter and ice cream.

The Porters arrived promptly at six as Danny had requested, wine in hand.

“Thank you, Judy. I’ll get some glasses.” Tess took the wine while Danny welcomed them into the Masterson’s home.

“You must be Clara? Nice to meet you I’m Danny.” He smiled at the youngest Porter who was the spitting image of her mother.

“Can I go see the animals?!”

“I can take her!” Jo offered, desperate to distance herself from the dinner preparations at this point, “C’mon, do you like cows?”

“She’s so cute.”

“Yeah, Jo does grow on people.” Lacey smiled.

The first half of dinner went better than expected. Turns out Jo’s menu suggestions were a hit with everyone. Eyebrow conversations had not happened and the history between the Mastersons and Porters seemed to keep an easy, constant ramble happening.

Halfway through the focus turned to Danny, which was the whole point of the dinner, but it didn’t make it any less difficult to get through.

The Porters and the Mastersons all took turns vetting Danny’s life up until the night of the party that had changed his life. He tried his best to stay honest and to not make his family seem like complete assholes.

“I’m surprised your parents aren’t here, Danny. I hoped we’d see them tonight.” Samuel began.

“I don’t think they would have come even if I did invite them.” Danny answered honestly.

“They’re still upset about the party?” Judy assumed.

“I think they’re still upset about having a child in general.” So much for not making them look like assholes.

Judy and Tess shot each other a look and Tess took over redirecting this.

“Alright, Kyle made homemade ice cream. We have a fire pit set up out back if you want to head out, we’ll have dessert there.”

Everyone made their way into the sprawling backyard. Kyle dished up some of his delicious chocolate and vanilla ice cream while Tess started up the fire pit.

“Want to take a walk before you have to leave?” Danny asked as they enjoyed their dessert.

“I’d love to. Oh! Jo, is our fort still down the trail?”

“You mean my fort? Indeed.”

“Have you shown Danny?”

“Nope.”

“Do you mind if I take him out there?”

“Have a blast you crazy kids.” Jo snarked, her and Rico really were perfect for each other.

“Can I come?” Clara asked.

“Not this time, Clara. Enjoy Mr. Masterson’s ice cream.” Lacey smiled, “I’ll be right back.”

Sam and Judy watched as Lacey dragged Danny down the trail that bordered the Masterson’s property.

“What do you think, Jude?” Samuel asked his wife.

“I think that as long as Danny doesn’t turn into Charlie number two, I’m happy for her.”

“Danny seems like a good kid.” Samuel agreed.

Danny and Lacey walked for a while down a trail that Danny hadn’t even known existed.

“I have to say, I’m a little nervous. Are you taking me out here to kill me?” Danny wondered as they delved deeper into the woods.

“Yep.”

The trail had been well maintained prior to the entrance to the woods, after that point Lacey was navigating from pure memory.

“We’re almost there—“ She pointed to a giant boulder in the distance.

Lacey climbed around the boulder, a smaller one on the other side making the perfect little cave in between. Lacey shone her phone’s flashlight inside, revealing the remnants of her childhood still mostly intact.

“Oh my gosh, look at this place.” Lacey gushed, “Jo and I would spend hours out here.”

Danny rummaged around, taking note of some old milk crates and not much else. Lacey obviously saw more here than he did.

“We wanted to get electricity out here so we could keep a little fridge, set up some kind of zip line so we could travel to and from the big house faster—“

“So what happened?”

“I mean, we’re not electricians—“

“I meant between you and Jo. Is this where you shaved her eyebrows off?”

Lacey’s jaw dropped, “Is that what she said?! I didn’t shave her eyebrows—“

“I’m not judging your twelve year old nonsense, I’m just asking—“

“And I’m telling you that I didn’t shave her eyebrows off.”

This wasn’t the conversation he had hoped for during this walk.

“Then what did happen?”

“Jo invited our whole class to her party. We rode horses and had the best time. Sarita and Regina came too and they stayed with Jo and I and a few other girls for her sleepover that night. Regina brought makeup and while everyone was putting it on, Regina convinced Jo that she should start a trend.”

“I don’t like where this is going.”

“Regina told her that the summer before she had shaved her eyebrows off so her makeup would stand out more and that it worked because she ended up with a boyfriend all summer. So Jo did it, she went into the bathroom and shaved her own damn eyebrows off.”

“Oh, no.” Danny covered his mouth with his fist.

“When Tess saw she asked what happened and that’s when Jo realized that Regina and everyone else were laughing at her, including me. I was her best friend, I’m sure it hurt to see me laugh too, so she told her mom that I did it.”

“Man you girls are brutal. Why haven’t you fixed it?”

“I told the Mastersons what happened but they stood behind Jo’s version. I didn’t know what else to do, Jo was my best friend so I was all alone after that. Regina was the most popular girl in our class and she just became my friend so I clung to her and she has honestly gotten me through some pretty dark times.” Lacey swallowed hard as she remembered something obviously painful.

“What about now? It’s been five years.”

“I guess just knowing that Jo never told the truth after accusing me of something like that. I told the truth, but she’s never tried to fix it, so I let her be. She chose this, not me.”

Danny could understand that, still seemed like such a waste. He wondered what Jo would have to say now.

Lacey stepped closer into Danny’s space and slid her hands around his waist.

“Are we doing questions?” She smiled up at him.

Danny smiled back and ran his fingers through Lacey’s curls until his fingers met behind her head. He left his thumbs to rub tiny circles in front of each ear as he lovingly inspected her face, carefully considering her question before responding.

“No.”

Danny leaned in and kissed her this time, a redo of the way he had imagined their first kiss would go the night before. Their first kiss wasn’t bad at all, but this time he was ready, his lips working hers like it was his job to make them sizzle, to make her crotch tingle.

“Oh shit—“ Lacey growled as his kiss intensified.

Danny smiled and went in again, kissing her deep and purposeful.

He had done all of the things, showed her he was a gentleman, that he cared about her family and what they thought of him, that he gave a shit about her and didn’t just want to shamelessly objectify her like some soul sucking asshole, like Archie had.

Right now it was time to show her that he was also filled with passion. He wanted her to know that if they ever went anywhere physically that he’d give a shit about that too. She mattered to him, her happiness, her pleasure.

Lacey read him loud and clear, reciprocating his message with one of her own. She was dominate despite Danny’s initial forwardness, relaying that she saw his effort and wanted this connection just as much as he did.

Lacey slid her hands lower and grabbed Danny’s ass, something she had wanted to do every time they were near each other. It felt exactly as she had imagined it would feel, she squeezed harder.

Danny broke their kiss first, “Hey now, be gentle—“

“Where’d you learn to kiss like that?” Lacey asked him, her eyes sparkling in the low light.

“Lots of practice.” He winked at her.

“Lucky girls.”

“Only one, actually. Lots of practice nonetheless.”

Lacey pulled her hands off of Danny’s ass and slid them to his waistband, stuffing the tips of her fingers in along the edge and pulling him toward her gently.

“I wish we had more time.” Lacey admitted, her voice low and a bit needy.

“Me too.”

“Danny, listen—I don’t know you well, I don’t know half of what you’ve been through, but I’m ready for some fun this summer. You’re exactly what I need.”

Danny ticked his head to the side in curiosity, not super comforted by her statement, “I am?”

“I haven’t been out with anyone in like a year.”

Lacey pulled back from him and walked over to the little desk her and Jo had created with some bricks and a slab of old wood. She picked up a spent chunk of colored chalk, its outside greyed by age. She dragged it along the side of the boulder to see what color it once was. Red.

“Why?”

“I’ve been scared.”

“Scared? Did something happen?” Danny asked carefully, wondering how he could seek vengeance on her behalf without going to jail.

“I guess you could say that. I was with someone for three years. Charlie. Some of his friends started dealing drugs and he was with them one night. They sold some bad shit and someone died. He’s in jail.”

“How long is he away for?”

“Three years. I broke up with him before his trial last year, I couldn’t deal with it.” Lacey shook her head, “I knew I’d be half way through college before he got out so I let him go.”

Her voice was sad, searching. Almost as if saying it out loud was her testing herself again to see if she had still made the right decision.

“That makes sense I mean it’s not fair to either of you to have to wait for the other—“

“Charlie is why my parents are so protective of me, obviously. I’m also more protective of me now too.”

“So how am I exactly what you need?” Danny wondered, sticking his hands in his pockets and feeling a little self-conscious, “I could go to jail too.”

“You are the first person who hasn’t expected anything from me since Charlie left. You’re sweet and kind and hardworking.” Lacey nodded, “Hot as hell.”

Danny smiled and rolled from his heels to his toes and back again. He kept his mouth shut for now.

“I want to let this last year go, move on. I just want to have fun before I’m back at school. I would love to do that with someone like you by my side. Go to beach, barbecues, dancing, maybe some other stuff—“

“Other stuff?” He absolutely knew what the other stuff was.

Lacey marched Danny backward until the wall of the boulder wouldn’t allow him to go any further, his back thudding into the unforgiving stone.

“Definitely other stuff—“ Her lips were back on his with renewed motivation.

Danny responded immediately and gave back just as much as Lacey was giving him. Lacey confirmed again that they were an excellent match physically and mentally. He wasn’t boring, it wasn’t easy. Hot as hell and a total challenge. It was perfect.

“Be with me this summer.” Lacey shuddered just beyond his lip’s reach, trying to catch her breath, “You and me.”

“What do we call that?”

Danny felt so alive, he wanted this, but he also knew the stakes.

“Fun.”

Danny swiped at the edge of his mouth, rubbing Lacey’s lip gloss between his fingers.

“If something happens and I go to jail I’ll never forgive myself—“

“That’s why we keep it light, we focus on fun and see what happens when you finish your program.” Lacey looked up at him expectantly.

“Keep it light.” He gave her a single nod, both of them knowing that they were already in too deep in this short amount of time, “I’m down.”

“Can I ask two questions?” Lacey asked playfully, “Please?”

“Okay.”

“Where were we in your sex dream?” Lacey’s dimples now popping.

“Why are you so interested in this dream?”

“It’s not your turn to ask the question.”

“We were in my room at the Masterson’s. I’m in the room next to Jo’s and you climbed up the tree outside the window and then climbed up on my dick. Next question.”

“Wow. Okay, was it good?”

“Jesus—“

“You have to answer—“ Lacey pushed.

“You thought so—“

Lacey’s jaw dropped, “Wha—“

Danny laughed at her, “You got your prize. I was having fun, but I didn’t get to finish so—“ Danny shrugged and dodged Lacey’s swats, eventually gabbing her flailing hands and kissing her again, “You’ve been better than my dreams in every way so far, I’m sure you’ll be amazing in my bed as well.”

They both heard a sharp whistle then. Lacey recognized it as Kyle’s beckon to call her and Jo back inside.

“That’s Kyle—“

“I don’t want to go back yet.” Danny frowned and melted Lacey’s heart.

“We have all summer.” She reminded him, “If you want to accept my offer—“

“I’m yours.” He promised her and followed her out of the fort.

When they heard Kyle whistle again they picked up the pace. Once they got back out of the woods and onto the trail they saw it, an NYPD cruiser in the driveway.

“Shit.” Danny said in equal parts fear and frustration, the cruiser reminding him that his freedom was not his own yet.

“Why are they here?”

“It’s my probation officer’s car and I have no idea.”

All Danny could think of was barely making it home on time the night before and officer Garrett overhearing him playfully telling Jo he was going to kill her before their rehearsal.

“Here they are—“ Kyle waved them over to the fire pit.

“Hey, what’s going on?” Danny asked nervously, his eyes darting over to Archie who was smiling. Maybe this wasn’t bad news?

“I just gave your probation officer an update on your progress and he’s here to deliver some paperwork to Gloria Crane, who has agreed to host you and Archie at her home during Regina’s party on Saturday night.”

“Oh my god, Danny! You can go to the party?!” Lacey squeezed his bicep and shook him a little.

“Wow, thank you so much—“ He had not expected that.

“With Gloria’s cooperation you can be out past nine and since Jo has to be back by two am, that’s also your new time on Saturday night only. Do you understand?” Kyle looked at all four kids who agreed unanimously.

“Danny, you are getting a drug test, right now.” Danny’s PO said out loud in front of everyone, “Let’s go.”

“Okay.” Danny followed the officer into the house.

“What’s a drug test?” Clara asked.

“Clara, can you go feed Champ more carrots for me? I can hear her fussing.” Jo asked Lacey’s little sister to get her focused on something other that the criminals that surrounded her.

“Sure!”

Clara bounced away while everyone turned their attention to Kyle for more info.

“It’s a normal request when you’re on probation. Both of them are subject to random drug and alcohol testing.”

Lacey’s face twisted up in irritation, “Did Archie get tested?”

“Not yet.” Archie said dismally, not picking up on Lacey’s insinuation that all things might not be equal here.

“Lacey, I’m watching, Danny’s getting a fair shake—“ Kyle tried to soothe her concern.

“The resource officer at school hates him. Almost called his PO because he was joking around with Jo—“

“But he didn’t. Officer Garrett is a good guy, I am sure he’s just trying to keep him from tripping up.” Kyle tried to reassure her again.

Lacey took a seat around the fire beside her parents. She reapplied her lip gloss casually, Jo shooting her a look and smiling at her. Lacey smiled back and looked down, they both knew that Lacey and Danny had just sucked each other’s faces off out there.

A few minutes later Danny and his PO returned, Danny looking throughly violated.

“All clear. See you later, Chief.” Danny’s PO gave him a wave, “I’m headed to the Crane’s. Stay out of trouble you two, don’t make me come back early.”

“Uncle Kyle—“ Archie stood and walked toward Kyle with his arms open wide.

“Chief—“ Danny followed suit and did the same, the two of them sandwiching Chief Masterson in a much deserved hug.

“Thanks, Chief.”

“Seriously, we need this party—“ Archie admitted.

“For the record, all I did was ask. Gloria is the one you should be thanking and let me be clear here, you DON’T need this party or any party. You two do not have a good track record when it comes to parties. You’re lucky your PO even entertained this. Do not put my reputation at stake, understood?”

“You got it.” Archie said.

“Never.” Danny affirmed at the same time, the two of them answering two different parts of Kyle’s comment.

“Alright gang, the Porters are heading home.” Samuel stood and pulled Judy to her feet, “Danny, thank you for dinner.”

“Thank you for coming.” Danny shook Samuel’s hand and gave Judy a hug.

“We’ll meet you at the car.” Judy squeezed her daughter’s arm as she walked past her, Samuel yelling for Clara off in the distance.

Archie and Jo helped Kyle and Tess clean up the backyard while Danny walked Lacey toward the driveway.

“I’m happy you can go to the party but Regina’s parties are wild, I’m not gonna lie I’m a little worried.”

“I’ll be on my best behavior.” Danny almost growled with his sexy-ass voice, “Mostly.”

“Mostly.” Lacey repeated.

“Listen, there’s too much at stake to screw this up. I might end up being a party pooper, but at least we’ll be somewhere together that isn’t school or inside a deep dark cave.”

“One more question?” She whispered as they stood out of view along the side of the house.

“Okay.”

“How long were you with that one girl?”

“I was with Whitney for a couple years, turns out, she prefers women.” Danny shrugged.

“Whoa—“ Lacey had not expected that answer at all.

“My turn.”

“Okay.”

“Charlie. I know you must have loved him if you stayed with him for that long. Do you still love him?”

“I think I’ll always love him—“

Danny’s eyes fluttered as he processed her answer, Lacey recognizing this as something he typically did when over-thinking.

“—but we’re over.”

Danny gave her a big hug and a quick peck while they were still out of sight. He walked her the rest of the way to the car and held the door open for her as she stuffed herself into the back seat next to Clara.

He watched as they drove away, unable to get Charlie out of his mind. If this is how it was without even meeting the guy, Danny wondered if Lacey was being honest with herself about the end of their relationship.

He was on board for whatever summer fun Lacey was looking for, but maybe she was trying to keep it ‘light’ to leave the door open for her first love to walk back in.


	8. Chapter 8

The door to Jo’s room was open as Danny made his way to bed, Jo was not inside. He peeked over at the tiny door that led to the roof, he knew where she was. 

“Here you are.” Danny greeted her simply and joined her to view the stars.

They lay there together silently for a long while, thinking about very different things.

“Thank you for everything tonight Jo, I’ll never forget it.”

“It was just dinner.” Jo muttered, telling him to shut up without having to say the words.

“It was more than that.”

“Seemed like Lacey was happy.”

“I think so. I’m happy too.”

“That’s great.” Jo said sarcastically, “I came up here to be alone—“

“I am a little confused about something though.”

“There’s a shocker.”

“Owww—“ Danny grabbed his chest in mock pain.

“I’m not explaining how sex works, you’re on your own—“

“Ha—ha.” Danny rolled his head to the side and stared at her, “I do not need any help with that, just saying.”

“Me neither—“

“Are really we doing this right now?” Danny was tired.

“You came up here! Get on with it!”

“I’m confused about your eyebrows.”

“Are they that bad? Damn—“ Jo rubbed them both.

“I know you know what I’m talking about.”

“What do you want me to say, Danny?”

“I get how a twelve year old mind processes stuff, but why are you eighteen and haven’t straightened this story out yet?”

“So you dragged your judgy pants up here with you, huh? Go away.”

“You just didn’t want to be friends with her anymore? There’s gotta be something more that I’m missing here—“

“You’ve seen Lacey, right?! And you’ve seen me—now rewind five years and yeah, Lacey and I were on different planets. I wanted to be anywhere those girls were and so when Regina told me to do something I fucking did it. You know, she did me a favor that day, I snapped out of wanting to be like them and just became myself. So that’s why I never straightened it out, Danny, because I didn’t fucking want to! Let them be assholes, I am done.”

“Yikes.”

“Just leave me alone now, please? No one invited you.”

Danny didn’t go anywhere. 

“Fine, you stay, I’ll go.”

Jo scrambled up and stormed off toward the stairs, Danny right behind her.

“I’m not judging you I was just asking for help understanding.” Danny tried to explain.

“You don’t understand anything! Were you raised by dogs or something?!” Jo screeched as they bickered in the hallway.

“Kind of, sometimes.”

“Explains a lot.”

“You’re not the only one who listened to someone who gave shitty advice, okay? I don’t care who you want to be friends with Jo, but I think that Lacey felt abandoned by you back then and your never tried to resolve it.”

“I guess I’m just a crappy friend, seems like she’s doing just fine now.” Jo stepped inside her room and prepared to slam her door, Danny stepped inside a little so she couldn’t.

“You’ve always been kind to me—sort of. I’m trying to help you guys resolve this, you could be friends again.”

“Whatever Danny, move. I’m going to bed. Maybe don’t jerk off so loud tonight? I’d like to get some sleep.” 

Jo finally slammed her door.

“Uh, dude, is everything okay?” Archie poked his head out of his room.

“Peachy.” Danny grumbled as he headed into his room.

******

Thursday, the small group from Green Grove High presented their drunk driving performance to the whole school. 

Most of the kids in the auditorium were fooling around in the beginning, making fun of the fake car crash and generally carrying on as expected. Once Danny stepped up, his presence alone was enough to quiet them all down.

Danny wore an incredible suit, his hair pulled up into his signature lazy top knot. Everyone either wanted to see him naked or wished they could be him. 

Kyle, Tess, Samuel, Judy and officer Garrett all stood behind the very back row of the auditorium seats and gave Danny a sight line for him to focus on. He appreciated their support, but he was there to impact the lives of these kids.

Danny took a moment to look around at all the kids before he began. He took his time and as he spoke his last words, he heard most of the adults begin exaggerated clapping. 

What meant more to Danny was the real applause that followed from the students. It was consistent and grew exponentially. Maybe he had just prevented some of them from ending up where he was.

******

On Friday, Archie and Danny worked at the school to prepare the football field for Saturday morning’s graduation ceremony. 

They set up hundreds of chairs and decorations. They posed as students while the teachers and staff ran through their rehearsal. Finally, they worked to set up the concessions table for the reception that was to be held directly after the ceremony.

Saturday morning, Kyle invited the boys along with him and Tess to attend Jo’s graduation. Archie and Danny watched as the senior class marched to their seats and proceeded through collecting their diplomas. They both longed for that experience.

Once the class and their families and friends had cleared out, the boys were tasked to undo all of the work they did the day before. As they were folding up the chairs, Kyle and their usual entourage returned for a surprise.

At Kyle’s request, Archie and Danny’s parole officer had brought along the caps and gowns from their high school back in the city when he came to serve Gloria the paperwork for the party the night of Danny’s dinner.

“You two did not deserve to walk with your class for your graduation and I think you really get that.”

“Yes, sir.” Danny really did.

“I’m not suggesting that you shouldn’t have had that consequence, but from what I’ve seen after this last week, I believe you have earned this experience back. You both need to know that you can move on, move forward with your life. The more you work for something, the more you will grow, learn and gain the things you’re looking for. I’m proud of you both.”

Kyle had the boys sit in the approximate seats they would have been in at their school. They laughed because their high school in the city had hundreds more kids in their graduating class than Green Grove did.

Since Samuel was the superintendent, he called their names. Danny first, Archie second. He allowed them to walk the main aisle and across the stage, receiving their honorary blank pieces of paper from Sam, shaking his hand and posing for a picture.

It may have looked ridiculous to others but for Danny, it meant so much. He hadn’t expected his parents to come to his actual graduation, so he didn’t let it bother him that they weren’t her today either. He enjoyed this experience for himself.

“Congratulations, Danny.” Lacey clapped for him as they stepped off the stage.

Danny wrapped his arms around her, something he tried not to do in front of the adults in his life. He didn’t care at that moment, he wanted to hug her and he hoped they would all be okay with their obvious connection.

“You too.” He said into the side of her head as they held onto each other.

“I have to go, but I’ll see you tonight?” Lacey wanted to kiss him so bad, her eyes dropping to Danny’s mouth and back up to his beautiful eyes again.

“Oh yes.” Danny answered immediately.

“I’m actually going to drive tonight. I’ll pick you three up at like nine thirty.”

Lacey and her parents left and Archie, Danny and the Mastersons completed cleaning up the football field and the reception area. 

“Alright guys, let’s get out of here. I’m starving.” Kyle announced.

“Chief, I have some errands I have to run. I can walk home. Is there any chance I can get paid for this week?” Danny asked, having a whopping $1.49 in his wallet.

Kyle whipped out his wallet and handed Danny $80.

“Can I come with you?” Archie asked, willing to take any opportunity to get out of the house.

“When can I expect to see you two back at home?” 

“Two hours, tops.” Danny promised.

“Alright then, stay out of trouble.” Kyle took their caps and gowns and the Mastersons took off.

******

“Dude, that was brilliant. What do you want to do?”

“Um, run errands.” 

“Seriously?” Archie asked as if Danny were insane.

“I have nothing but like four outfits here with me, I need to get some stuff. Do your own thing for two hours, I don’t give a shit.” Danny shrugged and kept walking.

Everything in Green Grove screamed small town. The big box stores and the mall were all about an hour away, so Danny was left to the local boutique shops and small family run chains.

Danny and Archie stepped into a clothing store along Main Street and were quickly harassed in an attempt to get them to leave.

“I don’t think we have anything here for you.” The woman working inside said as she met them at the door.

“Archie Yates, Chief Masterson’s nephew, nice to meet you.” Archie held his hand out and the woman shook it stiffly, “He shop here sometimes?”

“He does.”

Archie nodded, “I thought this was the place he recommended, he especially loves the service he typically gets when he comes in.”

Danny did his best to hide his smirk as Archie completely slayed this woman. She reluctantly stepped aside and let them continue on their mission.

“I’ll be quick, I promise.” Danny said to mostly himself as he pawed through a few of the racks. 

He found a floral button down shirt, exactly what he was looking for. He already had pants and boots to match, he just wanted something new and unique to wear to the party tonight.

“That’s thirty-five dollars.” The woman almost accused as if he couldn’t afford it.

“Thank you.” Danny handed her the cash and kept a smile on his face as she continued to stare him down. 

“Dude what a bitch—“ Archie sneered as they stepped out of the store.

“Where’s the pharmacy?” Danny wondered out loud, ignoring Archie and wanting to speed this up so he wouldn’t have to run home again.

The pair found the pharmacy at the other end of Main Street, Archie asking if he could get some candy as they wandered the aisles together.

“You’re such a child—“ Danny roasted him, “You ever gonna get a job?” He asked as he stuffed Archie’s candy into his shopping basket.

“After summer maybe.”

Danny picked up a beard trimmer, soap, razors, mints and went searching for his last item. He went up to the pharmacist when he realized this item was locked behind the counter.

“What are you looking for now?” Archie was annoyed.

“Excuse me?” Danny quietly tried to get the pharmacist’s attention.

“Can I help you?”

“Can I get a box of condoms, please?”

The pharmacist dug his keys out of his jacket and turned to open the case behind him.

“Dude, Lacey?” Archie was in shock, “You’re really that close to the finish line with her?”

“I’m not talking about this.”

“Three, ten or thirty six?”

“I’m sorry?”

“The condoms, which quantity are you looking for?”

Danny was sure he’d want more than three, but also didn’t want to have to come back any time soon to buy more either.

“Thirty six.”

“Oh shit.” Archie could not control his giggles then and had to cover his mouth.

“So I’m putting the candy back then?” Danny threatened.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

The pharmacist rang Danny up for his items and the guys headed out to begin their walk home.

******

Danny passed the fuck out, exhausted from his usual 4 am feedings, standing in the sun for hours at graduation and the full take down after the ceremony. Add to that a two mile walk home and Danny had no chance of staying awake long enough to enjoy the party later that night.

Archie woke Danny up for dinner around six. Danny volunteered for dish duty before disappearing into the bathroom for an hour to get ready.

“Danny, I would like to get ready at some point too—“ Jo knocked.

Danny finally opened the door, his new outfit and trimmed up face stunning her as he exited. Jo just stepped aside so he could get by, her mouth never closing as she slipped into the bathroom.

“How do you do that?” Archie walked a circle around Danny as he made his way into the living room.

“Do what?”

“Wear shit like that and still look like the hottest guy that ever lived.

“You think I’m hot?” Danny asked Archie.

“Hell yeah, have you seen yourself?!” The two of them laughing together as they pulled their boots on. 

“Thanks man. Did you want a condom—“ Danny offered to his friend quietly.

“Yeah right, unlike you I’m not even close.”

“Who says I’m close? From the sound of it, Regina is more than ready.” Danny shook his head as he thought of the very aggressive blonde.

“To work you out maybe, she’s not into it with me.”

Danny took out one of the two condoms in his wallet and passed it to Archie, “Just take it, you never know.”

Kyle walked in just then, of course. Archie pulled the condom from Danny’s hand and slipped it into one of his cargo pockets.

“Guys, I’m glad to see this, but I’m also not excited to see this—“

“Chief we’re not planning on anything happening—“ 

“Are you sleeping with Lacey?” Chief asked point blank.

“No.”

“What about you, Arch?”

“I’m not sleeping with anybody.”

“Guys—“

“All of our stuff is back home, Chief, I just want to be prepared like I’ve always been. That’s it.” Danny stuffed his wallet back in his pocket.

Chief Masterson rubbed his chin, obviously stressed out.

“I hadn’t thought about this.”

Danny stood, “You still don’t have to.”

“Lacey’s here.” Tess announced as the three men stared between each other.

“Danny—“

“We’re not sleeping together.” Danny offered again.

“Alright, if anything bad goes down tonight, call me first. Gloria is sticking her neck out for you guys, don’t make her regret this.”

Lacey knocked on the screen door to the kitchen and poked her head inside.

“Party wagon is here.” She smiled and stepped into the kitchen.

Lacey was wearing a fun sleeveless little black dress, the skirt was flared and flirty and she looked amazing.

Danny greeted her, taking some slow steps in from the living room to give her time to inspect him. He crowded into her and gave her a sweet hug.

“I like your shirt.” Lacey said to him privately.

“Thanks, I like yours too.” Danny said back, his hands holding her close to him at the small of her back.

Lacey giggled, “I’m not wearing a shirt.”

Kyle and Tess looked at each other nervously, realizing that the chemistry between the two teenagers was much stronger than they had previously gauged. 

“Danny.” Kyle said simply, not a question, not a reprimand, just his name said as a reminder.

Danny took a step back and gave him a single nod.

“Chief.” He acknowledged back.

It was all they could do. Everyone was over eighteen and having sex between adults was not something controlled under the limits of his probation. Danny could only promise to be safe and Kyle could only express his concern. The two men decided to leave it there.

Jo finally joined them, wearing the most hideous chunky mustard-yellow sweater ever made.

“Let’s do this.” She sighed and walked past all of them and out the door.

“Have a good time, be home on time or this never happens again.” Kyle told the four of them as they headed out.

******

“Why can’t I have shotgun? I’m the tallest—“ Archie bitched from the backseat.

Jo was squished into the middle and Rico was wedged into her other side. 

“Can you please unlock my window before I have to inhale any more germs from you people?” Rico added.

“I just spent an hour on my hair Rico, window stays up. I’m sure Jo agrees.” Lacey denied his request.

“I don’t give a shit what my hair looks like.” Jo hated this so far.

“Danny can’t you pull your seat forward any more?”

“I can, but I won’t.” Danny smiled from the passenger seat.

“Lacey your car—“ Archie was about to say something else and Lacey had enough, she pulled over a couple blocks from Regina’s house.

“Why are we stopping? Do we have a flat tire? This is how murder stories all begin—“

“Rico, shut up. Listen, you’re all welcome to get out and walk if you don’t want to ride in this car. If not, I suggest you all shut your fucking mouths.” Lacey said with eerie calmness.

“Mom’s mad, don’t make her turn this car around.” Jo joked and made them all laugh.

“I’ll do it!” Lacey warned, laughing along with them.

Regina’s house was massive.

“What the fuck—“ Archie said as he peered out the window.

“I think just hanging out in the car is fine, Jo. Don’t you think?” Rico babbled nervously.

“Oh no, we’re going in.” Jo pat his leg.

“I’m nervous too, Rico, you’re not alone.” Danny admitted.

“If the fucking Adonis is nervous there’s no hope for me—“

“Rico!” Lacey yelled at him, “Pull your shit together. It’s just the same assholes we went to school with for the last four years, only subtract school and add alcohol and various other drugs. Just have a good time, everyone else is.” She smiled at him.

The five of them all spilled out of Lacey’s silver VW and up the giant steps that led to Regina’s front door.

“Helloooo!” Lacey yelled as she let them all inside.

“Heyyyy bitch!” Regina squealed, the music just loud enough to make it difficult to hear, “Hello, everyone else—c’mon in! Damn Daniel, look at you—“

Lacey grabbed Danny’s hand protectively now that they were finally away from all of the invasive adults in their lives and wading into the melting pot of other kids their age who had their eyes on him. 

Lacey laced their fingers together and pulled him along behind her. Danny had never felt more proud to be claimed like this in his whole life.

“Where’s your mom?” Danny wondered, knowing that he owed Gloria a huge thank you.

“She won’t be bothering us, she’s up in her room for the night.” Regina winked at him.

“I think I’m supposed to check in with her—“

“Jesus Danny, it’s a party, relax.” Regina huffed and danced away with Archie chasing after her.

“Should I go find her?” 

“Not a fucking chance, c’mon!” Lacey dragged him along.

“You guys good?” Danny managed before he completely ditched Jo and Rico.

“Yeah, we’re just gonna, do something—“ Jo walked along with Rico, awkwardly inching their way inside further.

Lacey spun around to face Danny as they made their way into the dimly lit sea of Green Grove’s finest. She lifted her arms above her head and bounced in time with the beat of the song that permeated the whole house.

Danny studied her for a few, the curve of her waist, the sway of her hips, she was a dime and he knew everyone else saw the same thing he did. He just happened to be the lucky guy that Lacey had decided was worth her time.

Danny eventually reached out and pulled her closer, careful not to control her, instead just skating his fingertips along her sides to show that he was there in this moment with her. Lacey liked that.

“You smell so good.” Lacey gushed as she wrapped her arms around Danny’s shoulders and rested against him.

Danny moved his arms to wrap around her tightly and just held her as they moved together.

“You are so beautiful.” He muffled into the side of her head.

Lacey lifted her head off Danny’s chest and leaned up to kiss him. Danny kissed her back happily, his hands now lovingly sliding up and down her back.

“Shall I give you a tour of the house?” Lacey asked heavily against his lips, “There are many, many rooms.”

Danny rested his forehead against hers and tried to collect his raging hormones, but just couldn’t.

“I love rooms.” He admitted, making Lacey smile.

“Let’s go.”

Lacey climbed up the spiral staircase to the second level of the house. Danny walked along behind her, trying to keep an unassuming expression on his face when all he wanted to do was smile like a big dumb idiot.

“Whoa, hey Porter.” 

A huge young man with a tight buzz cut crested the top of the stairs heading down just as Lacey reached the top.

“Hey Tyler, have you met Danny?”

“I have not, hey man.” Tyler grabbed Danny’s arm and pulled him up the last step and in for a bro hug, “Saw your speech, hilarious to see you at Crane’s party now.” Tyler bellowed a laugh at a joke that only he was thinking of, “Have a blast man.”

“Thank you?”

“Hey, I heard a rumor you brought Masterson?” Tyler asked Lacey.

Danny’s shoulders tensed as he waited to hear where this was going.

“I did.”

“You sure she’s cool?”

“Very cool, actually. Leave her be.” 

Tyler held his hands up in surrender, “Hey I’m just asking, I’m just asking. Carry on.”

Lacey continued down the long hallway to the last room on the left. She opened the door and turned on the light, quickly pulling Danny inside. The heat radiating off both of them was intense, god he wanted her so bad.

“Does that door lock?” Danny asked innocently, almost panting at her.

“It does, and it is.” 

Danny pressed Lacey against the back of the door and kissed her enthusiastically, his arms bracketing her there. He wasted no time showing her how he felt about being here with her.

He eventually slid his hands down her arms and threaded their fingers together, pulling her arms up above her head slowly and pinning them to the door firmly as he deepened their kiss.

“You’re usually in charge, aren’t you.” Danny didn’t really ask, more like acknowledged huskily as he pressed her wrists even harder against the door.

“I am always in charge.” Lacey bit back, literally nipping Danny’s bottom lip with her teeth.

Danny rutted his hips against hers and pinned her with more force, Lacey’s breath hitching in her throat. She refused to give in and give him a sound.

“Maybe give someone else a turn?” Danny begged in her face, damn he was so handsome.

Lacey lunged for Danny’s mouth and sucked him back in for a desperate kiss. Danny had lost most of the blood to his arms at this point and let Lacey’s wrists go, opting to hold her bottom jaw instead.

Danny’s subtle show of dominance lit her on fire. No one had ever shown her that without coming across like a total pig. 

Danny was different. Sweet and strong, loving and passionate. He made Lacey feel safe. She’d never tell him, but she’d let him destroy her if he wanted to.

Lacey pushed them away from the door and over toward the bed. Danny plopped down to sit on the edge of the where she had shoved him. He pulled her along to stand in front of him, now bracketing her in place with his strong legs.

Danny reached up and looped a finger into the decorative circle hanging from the zipper that ran the length of the front of Lacey’s dress. He pulled it down slowly until he reached the bottom, the two edges splitting apart.

He looked up at Lacey’s face then, being careful not to take things from her without her permission. Lacey liked that and reached up to separate the dress further and let it slide off her arms behind her. 

Danny let his eyes drop and caught his first glimpse of her perfect body accented by a matching bright red bra and thong.

“Lacey—“

“You like red?”

Danny ran his hands along Lacey’s waist and down the backs of her thighs. He pulled her closer, Lacey taking a step forward in between his sprawled out knees. He pressed a kiss into the sensitive skin just below her chest.

“I do. Lacey, your body—“ Danny shook his head as if she was the only thing he could see, “You’re incredible.”

Lacey brought her hands behind her and unhooked her bra, letting the straps pop forward and down her arms, tossing it on the bed. She held her own chest, gently massaging it for herself. 

Danny kept his hands behaving, running them up and down the back of Lacey’s thighs. Now that she had taken her bra off, Danny wanted the full picture. He slid his hands under the bands of her thong and gripped her bare hips, the elastic stretching over his knuckles to accommodate his pursuit.

“Can I see all of you?” He asked her hopefully.

Lacey dug her hands into Danny’s hair. He squeezed her hips again and curled his fingers around the bands, twisting them up a bit in his hands and creating some tension across her crotch. Holy shit, she liked that.

“Please?” He stuck his chin into her belly and tipped his face up, his big brown eyes begging for the green light, “Let me see.” 

He pulled his face back and kissed her belly lower, just above her panty line. Lacey pushed Danny down onto his back, a mixture of defeat and excitement all over his face.

“You first.”

Danny just laid there, watching as she undid the few buttons of his shirt that he had chosen to secure. She pulled it open and rubbed her hands all over his beautiful brown skin.

“My god—“ Lacey was in awe of his lean body and perfectly manicured happy trail. 

As she pulled his shirt off she realized he had some tattoos, a surprise she wasn’t at all prepared for.

“You have tattoos?” 

“I have a few.” 

Danny sat up so Lacey could see them all. He didn’t give her an explanation for them, although each one did mean something to him, instead he watched as she explored and connected with each one on her own.

Lacey ran her fingers along the one on his rib cage scrawled in an atypical font: Buy the ticket, take the ride.

“That’s, Hunter S Thompson.”

Danny smiled, “You got it, kind of my mantra.”

“You are so fucking sexy—“ Lacey climbed up on top of Danny’s lap and leaned forward to kiss him again. 

Danny grabbed her ass, by mistake really, but he went all in when he couldn’t undo it. That move did it for her.

“I want you—“ Lacey rushed out into his mouth, her hands sliding in between them and working to unbutton his pants.

“Are we really doing this?” Danny suddenly having a flashback to his sex dream about a week ago. It still felt too fast.

“You don’t want to?” Lacey pulled her hands off his zipper and rested them on his truly perfect belly.

“God Lacey, look at you, you’re all I want. I want to do—so many things to you and that body.”

Lacey smiled sweetly, “You’re shy?” 

Danny licked his lips and rubbed the silky thighs that straddled his hips.

“I want more than the summer.” Danny addressed the giant elephant in the room that only he could see.

For Lacey, having Danny for the summer was all she wanted to commit to right now.

“Oh—“

“You don’t.” Danny stared at her, their physical chemistry obviously perfect, but mentally they were not in the same place.

Lacey slid beside him on the bed. Danny wrapped his arm around her and tucked her in beside him snugly. Lacey dragged her free hand all over Danny’s chest, still loving his beautiful body.

“I thought we agreed?” Lacey asked softly, not trying to sound upset with him, but she was majorly frustrated.

“I’m not trying to tease you, I swear. Lacey, that kiss? The one in front of your house. It’s all I ever think about. All day, every day. Don’t you think about it too?”

Lacey realized just how deep Danny had fallen in such a short amount of time. She didn’t respond the way he assumed she would. Her hand stopped rubbing Danny’s chest.

“You and I both know that is not true.” Danny sat himself up, now he was the one who was frustrated.

“Danny I think about that kiss all the time—“ Lacey tried to explain, “You know what I’ve been through. We talked about it already—I just want to have some fun.”

Danny’s eyes trailed over Lacey’s gorgeous body as she sat basically naked next him. He shook his head in disbelief.

“I never expected you. After everything that’s happened in my life over the last couple of weeks, I never expected you.” Danny said as he incessantly played with the rings he chose to wear tonight.

Lacey turned Danny’s sweet face toward her and kissed him again.

“Let’s just have the fun.” Lacey said softly when they broke apart, “Please?”

Danny watched Lacey’s face hide exactly none of the lust she was feeling. They were doing this.

“How did I get so lucky?” Danny’s body asked on his behalf.

“C’mon, lay down.” Lacey instructed, her body still buzzing beside him and now demanding a resolution to the throbbing between her legs.

Danny did as he was told and laid back down on the bed while Lacey reclaimed her spot straddling his waist. She ran her fingers through her own hair and stretched upward, the line from the tip of her chin down through the center of her body was long and fluid. It was like watching living art.

Danny reached up and traced a finger from as high up on this center line as he could reach, dragging his single fingertip between the valley of her breasts and down past her belly button and over the top of her red lacy V. 

When his finger reached as low as it could go, Danny kept it there, switching out his index finger for his thumb and rubbing her gently through her panties.

“Shit—“ Lacey liked that, she hadn’t expected him to just reach out and touch her there yet.

“Get these off and get your ass up here.” Danny slid his hands palms up under her thighs and tried to pull her up toward his head.

Lacey shimmied out of her underwear and crawled back up, allowing Danny to lift her onto his face.

“That’s it—“ Danny said before latching his mouth to her core for the foreseeable future. 

“Danny—“ Lacey writhed above him, enjoying this greatly.

Danny kept on, dealing with Lacey’s scratching and hair pulling. He knew she was close when she just shamelessly began grinding against his face searching for the perfect friction to push her over. Danny got his lips around her clit one last time and sucked her in waves.

“Yes, Danny, I’m—“ 

Lacey went silent, her mouth open as if her silent scream needed just as much space to pass through as her louder version did.

Danny gave her ass a squeeze as he sucked out the after shocks. Lacey dismounted, a bit trembly and overwhelmed by how good his oral game was.

“Danny, you are a fucking rockstar.” She smiled, her hands now working to yank his pants down.

Danny had only been with one person his whole life. Something about having these strong feelings for Lacey made him so nervous to share himself with someone new. He shook a little, unexpectedly behaving like this was his first time all over again.

Lacey could tell how unsettled he was and kissed him again, “Relax, baby. I’m gonna take care of you—“ Lacey promised, trailing kisses down his body.

Lacey tossed his boxers across the room and watched his swollen cock as it rested curled up against his lower abs. Damn he was more perfect than she anticipated. Well groomed and very clean. Danny was above average in every way.

Lacey didn’t hesitate and sucked him into her mouth almost immediately. Danny toggled between closing his eyes so he could concentrate on just feeling and opening them again so he wouldn’t miss watching her work. 

“Yes—“ Danny reached down and threaded his fingers gently through her curls.

After a few minutes, Danny’s cock was at more than full sail. He was throbbing with only one outcome left.

“You’ve gotta stop now if you want to fuck—“ Danny warned that if she continued this would be over shortly.

To his surprise, and renewed nervousness, Lacey popped her mouth off of him and stared up so intensely he could feel his entire soul quake.

“You’re into it?” She asked as she climbed back up his body.

“I—I was just saying.” Danny smiled and weaved their fingers together as he helped her reclaim her throne.

“I, absolutely, want this—“ Lacey wound her hips in a spiral above his body.

“I have a condom in my wallet—“

“Do you want to wear it?”

He couldn’t believe that his fantasy was playing out to be a reality right now.

“I am not about to get you pregnant—“

“I’ve been on birth control for years Desai. I’m guessing you and your girl were clean?”

“I’m clean.” Danny grunted, his dick fully taking over for his brain now.

“Just let me get it.”

Danny grabbed his cock and stood it up, Lacey taking the hint and lifting her core up to take him inside of her.

“Oh my god—“ Danny couldn’t hide his complete lust for her as Lacey’s tight body swallowed him.

Lacey bounced a couple times to slick him up and stretch herself out. Once she was able to take him deeper she got to work. 

“I’ve wanted you for days—“ Lacey groaned, “It’s better than I thought it would be.”

Danny’s hands were everywhere, her hips, her ass, rubbing her clit and back again. He pulled his strong upper body up, taking her left nipple into his mouth. He used the same wave-like sucking he used on her crotch earlier and made her moan his name.

“You’re a fucking Queen—“

“Shit, you fit so good.” 

Lacey turned herself around and began riding him in reverse, a favorite of Danny’s she couldn’t have known. Danny took advantage of this and grabbed her hips from behind and helped her bounce with the rhythm he preferred.

“You sure about the nut?” He was getting close.

Lacey couldn’t answer, her clit bobbing off of Danny’s balls so perfectly she ditched her rhythm and humped into him erratically to find big O number two. 

“Yes, yes—two—“ Lacey’s head fell forward onto the bed as she came for the second time.

Danny didn’t have to be told twice anyway, he trusted her. He grabbed her hips again and pulled her down to take his dick over and over while he bounced his hips up.

He sat up just before he came, pulling Lacey’s spent body up to sit backward in his lap. He wrapped his arms around her, leaning her against his chest to support her. He reached down to their union to rub her clit as she took his cock to his base.

“Danny, oh my goh—“ Lacey whined, her voice trailing off as she came a third time.

Lacey’s third orgasm milked him in way he had never felt before. Danny peaked without anymore thrusts, unloading deep inside of her.

“Fucking Christ, don’t move—“ Danny growled into her neck from behind, biting any skin he could find while his dick continued to pulse his seed deep, “Holy shit, Lace—“

“Wow.” Lacey declared and squeezed her core tight, still leaning back against his chest.

Danny winced and bit her again gently, still too sensitive for that.

“Please, slowly—“ He held the base of his cock as she carefully hopped off of him, Danny’s body turning into a puddle and melting into the bed.

“Danny that was amazing!” Lacey practically squealed and hobbled around for something she could use to clean herself up with.

Danny followed suit and did his best to make himself look like he hadn’t just had the best raw sex ever for the first time.

“We should really get back, we’ve been gone for like an hour.” Lacey realized.

Once they were ready, they headed for the door. Danny grabbed her arm and spun her back toward him.

“Hey.” 

He stared at her fondly and tamed her hair a bit before leaning in and kissing her like he only had one chance left to kiss her ever again. Lacey let go and just kissed him back, their love and lust painting their feelings for each other in equal parts.

“I had the fun that you mentioned earlier.” Danny smiled when they finally broke apart, “Thank you.”

Lacey laughed at Danny’s silly personality.

“See? I told you, this summer is about to be so good.”


	9. Chapter 9

Lacey led Danny back downstairs to rejoin the party, one hand laced together with his. He didn’t even try to keep his demeanor in check, the smile on his face revealing everything to anyone watching.

“Lacey! Oh my gosh, there you arrrrre—“ Regina danced up to her best friend, “Where did you go?” She looked Danny up and down.

Lacey looked at Danny too and smiled brightly, “I just took Danny on a tour.” She squeezed his hand gently.

“Oh I bet that was an epic journey.” Regina said with equal parts sarcasm and jealousy.

“You have no idea.” Lacey gushed, making Danny’s heart swell. He was happy that she had a good time.

“Have you checked your phone?!” Regina bit her lip as if she was trying to hold in the biggest news of her life.

“Uh—no, um—“ Lacey released Danny’s hand and fished around the tiny pocket she had stuck her phone into.

“Charlie’s out.” Regina blurted out, her willpower now at zero.

Lacey’s eyes grew several sizes as she unlocked her phone and saw she had a handful of notifications from Charlie’s number. 

“I—what?” Lacey wasn’t sure what to say, “Is he here?!” Lacey looked around.

“No, but he’s been trying to reach you for the last hour. He said something about overcrowding, I wasn’t really listening.” Regina offered the summary, “He wants you to call him.”

“Thanks, Reg.” 

“You know, Danny, if this means that you’re available now I’d still love to hang out.” Regina gave him her sweetest smile.

“I’m not available, sorry.” Danny admitted, confused and incredibly uncomfortable at the moment.

“Well, you know where to find me.” Regina turned and left them in the middle of the living room.

Lacey quickly read through the texts.

Charlie: Surprise! I’m out. Would love to talk.  
Charlie: I miss you, Lacey. I miss us.  
Charlie: Where are you? 

She looked up at Danny. He couldn’t read her. Was she happy?

“Danny—“ Lacey shook her head almost in disbelief.

Danny covered his mouth with his hand, giving it a rub before leaning his face into it as he watched Lacey cycle through her thoughts.

“I didn’t know.” Was all she could say.

“So, what does this mean?” Danny asked softly.

“I wasn’t lying, Charlie and I, we’re done.”

“You called it off because you thought he’d be gone for another two years. I understand if this changes things.”

Danny didn’t want to lose whatever was brewing between them but at the same time he couldn’t compete with a guy who had loved her for years.

“I am going to reach out and talk to him, catch up.”

“Are you going to tell him about us?”

“It’s none of his business. Danny you and I—“

“Had fun.” Danny finished her thought, “Let’s leave it there.” He nodded, trying to make it easy for her.

Danny’s mind was on overdrive as his own insecurities flooded his thoughts. Lacey didn’t want Charlie to know. She didn’t want him.

“Danny—“ Lacey began to object as he took a step away from her, his face showing his disappointment.

“There you guys are, I—I can’t find Jo. We may have had some drinks, well, we definitely had some drinks—“ A buzzed Rico tried to spit it out, “A lot of drinks in a short amount of time—“

“Where is she?” Danny asked, his brain still a little sex-hazed and now majorly preoccupied with the Charlie news.

“I led with the fact that I can’t find her—“ Rico held his hands up in frustration.

“Rico, just—when did you see her last?” Lacey asked, supremely annoyed by his timing and lack of communication skills.

“She was playing beer pong with Tyler like ten minutes ago.” Rico was getting increasingly worried, “I went to use the bathroom, there was a line and w-when I got back she was gone.”

“You looked around?” Lacey asked.

“Yes, everywhere downstairs so far.” Rico’s anxiety was increasing, “This house is huge though, I need help.”

“You sure she’s not outside?” Danny suggested, “She likes to look at the stars.”

“Really?” Lacey squinted at him.

“What?” Danny shrugged.

“She’s not outside! Why would she ditch her socially awkward boyfriend and go outside to look at the stars?!” Lacey broke it down smaller for him.

“Guys I’m standing right here.” Rico shook his head in disbelief.

“Green Grove girls are so mean to me—“ Danny grumbled.

“Hello? I need help—“ Rico waved his hand between the bickering summer fling, their flame now slowly burning them into a pile of rubble.

“Let’s check upstairs.” Lacey said, trying to stay calm for everyone.

“Upstairs, like in the bedrooms?!” Rico’s eyes bugged out.

“Arch!” Danny shouted and signaled for him. 

Archie sighed and begrudgingly pried himself away from the group of girls he was flirting with.

“Dude, seriously? Sarita was finally warming up—“

“Uh—doubtful.” Lacey gave him the side eye and laughed unabashedly.

“Your cousin is missing.” Danny informed Archie. 

“Jo?”

“No your other cousin—“ Danny glared at him.

“How did you all graduate high school?” Rico wondered out loud.

“I need you to back me up, we’re headed upstairs to look.” Danny let that statement hang and waited for Archie to realize that they’d likely be walking into a situation with the potential to cause them both some major problems.

“Fuck, yeah okay.”

“W-What do you think is happening? I mean—“

“Rico, we’ll find her. I’m sure she’s fine.” Lacey tried to calm him down, “It’s just a big party—“

“I can’t find Tyler either.” Rico confessed, he knew this probably wasn’t good.

Archie took the lead, Danny, Lacey and Rico following close behind as they scaled the spiral staircase.

“Regina’s got like nine bedrooms doesn’t she?” Rico looked down the long hallway.

“Twelve.” Lacey corrected.

“If Tyler is fucking with her I’m going back to jail tonight.” Archie predicted and got to work trying door handles.

Danny and Lacey looked at each other worriedly, Rico still trailing along behind them.

The first few bedrooms were empty. The next few had couples hooking up inside with their doors unlocked.

The first locked door that Archie came across enraged him. He pounded on it like he was a firefighter, yelling for whoever was inside to unlock it.

“Hey man, what’s your fucking problem?” Scott Ogden of all people stuck his shirtless upper half into the hallway.

“Great.” Danny quickly slid himself in front of Archie before he could pummel this douche bag who had already tried to cause them problems.

“Oh, it’s you two fuckwads.” Scott tried to slam the door shut but Danny stuck his boot inside the room just in time.

“Don’t mind us, just on a scavenger hunt. We’re super into party games.” Danny smiled and flicked the light on, definitely a girl wrapped in a sheet in the corner, definitely not Jo, “It’s clear.” Danny reported back to Archie, “Carry on, mate.” He smiled at Scott.

“Fuck you.” Scott growled and slammed the door.

Danny found the next locked door and stuck his ear against it instead of immediately Neanderthaling his fists into it like Archie did.

Laughter. He plugged his other ear so he could hear better.

“No, no, no.” He heard a girl’s voice. It could be Jo, but she seemed so—happy, “Give it back, Ty—“

“They’re in here.” Danny confirmed and before he could say anything else Archie crushed the handle, slammed his shoulder into the door and easily broke in. 

Tyler and Jo were standing in front of an open window, the whole room reeking of pot.

“Oh—my god.” Jo was shocked at first, then pissed.

“Oh shit!” Tyler giggled, “It’s the whole D.A.R.E. program!” His words making him and Jo bust out laughing together.

“Jo? What are you doing? Are you okay?” Rico asked her in a mixture of worry and heartbreak.

“We’re smokin’, Rick!” Tyler confirmed.

“It’s Rico.”

“Busted.” Jo said softly, taking another long drag.

“We would have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for you meddling kids.” Tyler laughed again and took the blunt back.

“Jo. Are you good?” Danny asked her seriously.

“Yes, DAD. I’m fine.”

“This is bullshit Jo, you know we can’t be around that shit.” Archie was pissed now too.

“I believe the door was shut and locked, you absolute caveman assholes.” Jo scathed.

“I can’t be in here.” Danny headed back toward the door.

“You never think about anyone else.” Lacey scowled at Jo and followed Danny out. 

“I see what you mean.” Tyler said to Jo and shook his head.

“Right?!” 

“I was worried about you Jo, I can’t protect you if—“ Archie began to explain.

“I’m so sick of being protected!” Jo shouted, “You think I didn’t need to get out of that house tonight too?”

“You’re not on parole! Stop being such an angsty fuck and think about someone else, damn no wonder Lacey shaved your eyebrows off—“ Archie shouted back.

“Oh shit—“ Tyler started laughing again, “I remember that. Shit was so bad ass.”

Jo shook her head, Tyler was so weird.

“I—I’m gonna go.” Rico turned and began to walk away.

Tyler handed the blunt back to Jo and exhaled one last time before going after him.

“Hey man, you stay, I’ll go. You’re a lucky guy.” Tyler gave Rico a smack on the back and dipped.

“Thanks.” Rico was overwhelmed at this point.

“Want some? Sharing is caring.” Jo giggled and held her hand out to Archie and Rico.

“Please don’t get us arrested, that’s all I’m asking.” Archie declined and left Jo and Rico to talk through whatever this was.

“I need a drink.” Lacey declared as she reached the bottom of the stairs.

Danny stayed in the living room and watched Lacey head straight for the drinks. 

“What’s going on with you two?” Archie wondered, picking up on their frosty interaction.

“Nothing.”

“Nothing? You two were gone forever, you hit that?”

“Her ex is back.” Danny needed to tell someone.

“The guy in jail?” Archie asked, just as stunned as Lacey had seemed by the news.

“Yep.”

“So fuck her, dude. There’s plenty of other girls here—“ Archie tried to scrape his friend’s morale up off the floor.

Danny looked around, his eyes roaming and acknowledging lots of other people that were coexisting with him at this party. There were plenty of other girls, but Lacey was the only one he could actually see. He shook his head no.

“Nah, man. It’s just her.”

“Okay, the stop sulking and show her you’re it. I’ve never seen two people with more chemistry than you two. Who even is this other guy?”

“I’m not good enough for her.” Danny stared across the room at her radiant soul as she talked to her friends.

“Oh, and the loser who went to jail is? You’re a good guy Danny, she’d be lucky to have you.” Archie gave one last push to boost Danny’s confidence.

Archie was right, Lacey definitely deserved better than two dudes with significant legal trouble vying for her, but if she was about to choose either of them to love her or have fun with her anyway, why would he give up now?


	10. Chapter 10

Just after midnight Regina’s guests were trashed, all except for Danny and Archie. 

“This is some karma.” Archie shook his head as he surveyed the group.

“We’re in trouble.” Danny muttered, watching as Lacey chugged god knows what at this point.

“If we can get them to stop now they’ll be okay in an hour—“ Archie suggested.

“I’m not letting Lacey drive.”

“Can you still drive?” They were sober but Archie was trying to remember the terms of Danny’s probation.

“Yes, I wasn’t the one who smashed into the back of a police car while I was drunk—“ Danny reminded him, “But Chief asked me not to drive while I’m here.”

“I think this is a pretty good exception.”

“You must be the bad boys?”

Danny turned around to see a perfectly basic middle aged woman staring back.

“Mrs. Crane?” Danny presumed.

“Call me Gloria.” 

Gloria Crane held her hand out but not in any way possible to shake, was she expecting him to kiss it? Danny shot a glance over to Archie who had no problem kissing it like the minion Danny always knew him to be.

“Having fun?” She dragged her eyes all over both of them, making Danny incredibly uncomfortable.

“Yes.” Archie said

“Mhm.” Danny lied.

“Not as much as everyone else it seems though, right?” Gloria smiled, “You’re Daniel.” Gloria let her eyes linger on Danny for far too long.

“Danny, yes ma’am.”

“Regina has talked a lot about you this week. She never does that. I had to come down and see you for myself.”

“I wish we were known for being some sort of outstanding citizens, but we’re working on it. Thank you again for this—opportunity.” He tried to joke through whatever cougar outreach program Gloria felt she was managing right now.

“Yes, well, if you ever need anything don’t hesitate to contact me. Now, about the door to one of my bedrooms?”

“Oh, um—“ Archie held his breath.

Danny knew that destruction of property could definitely land Archie in jail and probably himself as well. They seemed to be a packaged deal these days.

“This might be one of those times when I need you.” Danny gave her his best pleading smile.

Gloria pondered Danny’s words just long enough to scare them further, “Okay, well, I’m so sorry, those locks do stick all the time. You had to do what you had to do. I completely understand.”

Danny and Archie both exhaled at the same time.

“Enjoy yourselves.” Gloria smiled brighter and walked away.

“Holy shit dude, is it possible to be more than sober?” Archie held his chest.

“That’s anxiety. Welcome.” Danny gave Archie a slap on his back, “We need to get the fuck out of here before we end up owing her more than we want to give, if you know what I mean.”

“It wouldn’t be that bad, she’s kinda hot.”

Danny grimaced, “Find Jo and Rico and meet me at Lacey’s car, we’re leaving in ten.”

Danny waded through the sea of now stumbling party guests. Something about being forced to watch those around him slide further and further away from sobriety made the charm of ‘having a good time’ dim a bit. Even so, he still wished he could be right there with them, to just be a normal person again.

Lacey was dancing around and talking animatedly with Regina, Sarita and a few other people that he didn’t know.

“Hey Lacey.”

“Danny!” She sauntered over and gave him a big hug.

“I’m sorry if I’m about to ruin your fun, but we need to go.” He hummed near her ear while he held her in his arms.

Lacey pulled back and searched his face, “I screwed up.” She nodded in agreement with herself.

Danny assumed that Lacey was realizing how much she had to drink. He was surprised but not upset, this was her graduation party after all.

“It’s okay, I can drive.”

Lacey pulled back a little, “Oh, what? No, I can drive—“

“You’re not driving.” Danny laughed a little, was she serious?

“Danny I have to be back at my house with my car—“ Lacey paced side to side for a moment while she tried to get her brain to think, “If my parents knew you drove—“ Lacey scrubbed her hand over her face.

“Look, you can’t drive. I can call Chief and have him come pick us up if you don’t want me to drive your car—“

“No, god no—“

“Then we need to fix this. It’s been a long day for you. Let’s go outside, call your parents and tell them you’re having fun and that you’re too tired to drive home so you’re going to stay at the Masterson’s. I’ll drive us all there and you’ll be good to go home tomorrow.”

“Kyle is going to know what a crock of shit this is. He’s the chief of police.” Lacey pointed out.

“We’ll frame it like old times. You and Jo wanting to have a sleep over, revisit your bond.” He rolled his eyes, “Give me your keys.”

Lacey handed over her keys and followed Danny outside. As their friends waited in the distance, Lacey pulled Danny to a stop before they got close enough for them to hear. Danny looked at her in confusion.

“You okay? Did you forget something?”

“I screwed up.” Lacey repeated what she had told him inside a few minutes prior.

“No worries, Lace. We’ll get you out of this, okay?” Danny smiled.

“No, I mean, I don’t think we should have slept together tonight.” Lacey’s eyes teared up.

“Whoa, hey—it’s okay.” Danny reached out and rubbed the outside of her arms, not wanting to suffocate her with a hug when she was dealing with whatever she was feeling right now.

“I didn’t plan to drink tonight, but after the Charlie news I just—“ Lacey was way more emotional than she thought she’d be.

Danny started to panic a little, his mind racing. Their fling had the potential to get him into some huge trouble if Lacey wanted it to. They really didn’t know each other at all. Why didn’t he just wear the fucking condom?

Danny continued rubbing her arms, “We’ve only known each other for a week, it was fast. So, we’ll slow down.”

“D, we’ve gotta bounce!” Archie yelled after Jo showed him the clock on her phone..

“We’ve gotta go.” Danny added before turning away and heading toward the car, Lacey trailing a few steps behind. 

Danny went over the plan: call their parents, drop Rico off and drive the rest of them back to Jo’s house. With any luck, the Mastersons wouldn’t see who drove in and if they did they’d exaggerate their level of exhaustion.

“Hi Daddy, this is Lacey,” Lacey giggled, “Of course you already know that—“

Shit, this was messy. Danny winced and turned to look at Jo who was having a similar conversation with Chief Masterson.

“It’ll be like old times!” Jo gushed to her dad, also misjudging her emphasis and out of character positive energy. 

In the end, their parents agreed to their shaky scrap of a plan. They all climbed into Lacey’s car, Archie taking the passenger seat this time.

“Jesus Jo, all I smell is weed.” Danny groaned worriedly and put the windows down.

“Seriously, there’s no way your parents are not going to notice.” Archie was now fully panicking.

“Relax, idiots. It’s not like they’re going to be waiting to smell me as I walk through the door.” Jo grumbled.

“I don’t think they’ll need to.” Danny nose scrunched up as her ever-skunky odor wafted into the front seat again.

“They’re all awake now that you’ve called them. They’ll definitely be looking at Danny and I, why not check the rest of us out.” Archie guessed.

“I think I’m okay.” Lacey smelled herself, starting to sober up.

Danny reached behind him and handed the three of them some mints.

They arrived at Rico’s house about five minutes later, dumped him out and began their nerve-wracking drive to the Masterson’s for the night.

Danny parked off to the side of the driveway and prayed that no one was watching them. It had rained hard the day before and where Danny had parked was basically on the edge of a large muddy area. 

Lacey slid out of the backseat and turned to give Jo a hand to help her navigate the sloppy ground.

“Thanks.” Jo said as she took Lacey’s hand.

“Please don’t be mad at me?” Lacey asked Jo as she was straightening out her sweater.

“Mad about what?” Jo asked curiously.

Lacey quickly tucked her leg in front of Jo’s and dropped her straight into the mud.

“Ohhh, shit!” Archie was stunned.

“Oh my gosh, you tripped!” Lacey said almost believably.

Danny watched as Lacey reached to offer Jo some fake assistance with getting up and ended up pushing Jo down onto her back, completely coating her with the disgusting mud.

“I can’t fucking believe you!” Jo’s voice cracked. She tried to yank Lacey down with her but Lacey was much stronger and steadier on her feet.

Jo just sat in the muddy puddle, cold, slimy and defeated. Lacey squatted down, hand extended to really help her up this time. Jo didn’t make a move to accept the offer.

“C’mon, now you don’t smell like pot. You’re welcome.” Lacey pulled Jo to her feet.

“Wow.” Danny said in total shock.

“I had to do something!” Lacey defended herself.

He wasn’t sure where to begin processing that addition to their plan, but Lacey’s MMA move just became one more thing they couldn’t undo now. She really was always in charge, Danny smirked.

“Jo! What the heck happened?!” Tess was surprised to see her only child walk through the door dripping in mud from head to toe.

“Danny parked next to the mud puddle and I didn’t see it when I got out—“ 

“Danny parked there?” Kyle surveyed the remaining members of their crew.

Fuck.

“I’m taking a shower.” Jo ignored her mistake and waddled to the bathroom, Tess running around to get Jo clean clothes and then returning to her room.

“Yes, I drove us home. I know you don’t want me doing that but everyone was so tired and I am the only one of us who got to take a nap earlier.” Danny confessed.

“I told you to call me first if something went wrong.” Kyle pushed back.

“There was nothing wrong really, just the short drive back. I didn’t want to bother you just for that.”

“I am sure Lacey was awake enough to make the short drive.” Kyle looked over at her, “Unless she was impaired somehow?”

“I’m fine, just totally exhausted.” Lacey’s face hung, she really did look spent.

Kyle sighed, “Lacey, you and Jo will be staying on the couch in the living room for your sleep over, Tess set it all up for you two.”

“Okay, thank you.” Lacey said, “I’ll just wait for Jo then.” Fucking great.

“Can D and I go up to bed, Uncle Kyle?” Archie hitched a thumb toward the stairs.

“First, I’m going to have you blow into this.” Kyle pulled out the small portable breathalyzer his officers carried around town in their cruisers.

“I didn’t drink anything.” Archie defended.

“Good, then we’re establishing some trust here. Maybe I won’t have to do it again.” Kyle held the device up to Archie’s mouth, “Just keep blowing until it beeps.”

The tiny machine beeped and gave no reading. Kyle popped the mouth piece off and switched it for a new one.

“Good night, Archie.” 

Kyle tried to send him off to bed but Archie wasn’t leaving without Danny.

“Let’s go Danny.” Kyle waved him over for his turn.

“I didn’t drink tonight either.” Danny said and looked Kyle right in the eyes, he wanted to be added to the trust list as well.

“Okay, show me.”

Danny blew through the machine, weirdly worried he wouldn’t pass even though he had nothing but water to drink all night. It was another zero reading. Kyle nodded, the three men and Lacey standing silently in the kitchen together while Kyle packed away the tester.

“Since we’re being honest,” Kyle crossed his arms across his chest, “Would you girls pass or not?” His eyes traveled to Lacey, all of them knowing she wouldn’t pass.

“Like I said, they’re just tired, Chief.” Danny asserted before Lacey could say a word, calling his bluff and praying Kyle wouldn’t challenge him.

“Guys, when the option shakes down to everyone being driven home by someone on probation, it’s time to call me. Understand?”

“You make it sound like I’m worthless.” Danny was upset, apparently they were getting into this now.

“It’s about trust and respect.”

“Chief, I do respect you, when do I get the trust and the respect back?”

“When you start making the right decisions.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t call.”

“Apology accepted. Do you trust me?”

“I mean, I guess so—“

“I’m a dad.” Kyle looked over at Archie, “Will I call your PO about Mrs. Crane’s broken bedroom door? Nope.”

Archie’s heart stopped. Kyle looked back at Danny.

“Do I believe you drove everyone home because they were ‘too tired’ to drive? Also no. You’re a good kid, Desai. I do see that.”

“Thank you, Chief.”

Jo slid out of the bathroom and headed toward the stairs. 

“Jo, you’re set up in the living room with Lacey tonight. I know how badly you wanted that sleepover.” Kyle glared at her.

“Oh—well, that pull out bed isn’t very big. Maybe I should just sleep in my bed tonight. I know how tired Lacey is.”

Thank god, Lacey thought. The last thing she wanted was to spend a night on some shitty mattress sleeping next to Jo Masterson and worrying about eyebrow revenge.

“Actually Jo, you can’t.” Kyle stood weirdly firmer than he ever had with her, “Tomorrow we’re going to be setting your bedroom up in the office down here for a bit.”

“Why can’t I stay in my room?” 

Jo had goosebumps erupt all over her body, this conversation eerily familiar to the one they had when she found out the boys were coming for the summer.

“Another family has asked us to board their son for his probation period. I’m sure you girls will remember him, Charlie McBride?”

Lacey’s jaw hung open, her eyes burning a hole through Danny’s face.

“Wait, he’s here now?” Jo asked and looked over at Lacey in shock. 

“He is.”

Danny felt sick.

“Why does he get my room and I have to be stuffed in the office?! I didn’t do anything!” Jo was horrified for Lacey but mostly angry that this asshole was in her bed right now. 

“This isn’t up for debate. It’s smarter to have the three of them up in the same place. Your mother and I will be able to keep a closer eye on them.”

“Wow, we’re running a halfway house now.” Jo fumed.

Charlie descended the staircase and into the kitchen after being woken up by all the commotion.

“Is this when everyone normally gets up?” Charlie rubbed his face, “I know it’s a farm but this just seems too early.” Charlie looked around at the group, not recognizing the guys, eyes finally connecting with Lacey, “Lacey?!”

“Hi Charlie.” Lacey smiled and the two walked over to hug each other.

“Oh my god, I’ve been trying to reach you.” He held her tight, leaning back so her feet left the ground for a few moments.

Danny took stock of Charlie. They were the same height, roughly the same build. Danny wondered if his muscles were from working out in jail or if he had always been like that. Charlie’s hair was longer, not as long as his, but long enough to piss Danny off. He wasn’t a bad looking guy.

“Charlie these are your new roommates.” Kyle presented, “This is my nephew Archie and his friend Danny.”

“Nice to meet you.” Charlie shook Archie’s hand and moved over to shake Danny’s, “You’re Danny.” Charlie shook his hand for a few moments longer than Archie’s, “Nice to put a face with the stories I’ve heard.” Charlie deadpanned, all hints of his smile fading to nothing.

“Same.” Danny pushed back with the same intensity.

Lacey knew Regina and their other classmates had probably given Charlie an earful about her and Danny by now. She didn’t want to deal with this.

“Okay, Charlie, to answer your question, it is too early to be up. Sorry we woke you. Danny, you should get to bed, you’ve only got about an hour before you feed the animals.” Kyle chuckled at him.

“No problem. Thank you for letting us go to the party, Chief. I had fun.” 

Danny stared past Charlie and connected with Lacey, offering her a genuine smile. Maybe it wasn’t fair to her, but Charlie needed to be reminded that he hadn’t been around for the last year and that Danny wasn’t going anywhere.

“Good night.” Danny excused himself, Archie right behind him.

Charlie could read between the lines. He turned and connected with Lacey again, the struggle she was dealing with was obvious. Charlie nodded, she didn’t need to say a word, he already knew. 

If Danny wanted some competition, Charlie was game. He knew what it felt like to lose Lacey and he was not about to let it happen again. It was Danny’s turn to take the L, Charlie would make sure of it.


	11. Chapter 11

Danny didn’t even try to sleep. He made it into his room and laid on the hardwood floor. In an old house, you can hear everything from laying atop it’s bones like this.

He listened to Charlie and Lacey exchange a few more pleasantries before Charlie finally returned to the room next to his. He listened to Lacey and Jo talk for a little while although he could not hear what they were saying.

Charlie was quiet once he was in his room. Danny wondered if he was in there doing the same thing. He wondered what bullshit Kyle was going to have the three of them do together and about how the hell he was going to try to connect with Lacey now without her ex tagging along every time.

Why did he even care so much? Danny wasn’t from here, he didn’t have roots here, this wasn’t his hometown. He was a city boy with barely any family. Charlie and Lacey had a whole history, this was where they were from.

Lacey.

Once the house was quiet he couldn’t help but think about her. They had slept together within the first half hour of finally being alone. That had to mean something right? Lacey wouldn’t have objectified him like that would she? She said she just wanted to have some fun for the summer, did he really not hear what she wanted?

That’s what it was, he hadn’t been listening to her.

Danny decided then that he should just let it all go, the beef with Charlie, the thought of something happening with Lacey, all of it.

With his mind racing, the hour before he was due to feed the animals seemed to blow by. He wanted to crash so hard but he also needed this job so badly and always took his commitments seriously.

At 4 am Danny peeled himself off the floor and dragged his ass back downstairs and out to begin the feeding routine. He ran back through the night over and over as he went from station to station and greeted the animals.

The animals had taught him so much in such a short amount of time. The goats were always happy at face value and if he didn’t feed them fast enough they would get a bit violent. The chickens were the opposite, violent straight away, pecking at his boots until he fed them which was when they offered him appreciative clucks.

He found all of their different personalities quite amusing. Danny knew how different people were, but all of them needed to be fed regardless. He added on to the thought he had in his bedroom, he’d let it all go and maybe he would benefit from finding some sort of common ground with Charlie. Maybe they could all be friends. Danny wanted to find a way to feed them all.

Around 5:30 Danny was starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, or maybe it was just the sun rising. He needed sleep so bad and was almost euphoric as he prepared to finally feed the pigs.

“Hey, cowboy.”

“Lacey, hey. You should be asleep—“

“I’m okay, I’m going to head out now that I’m sobered up. That pullout couch just isn’t it.” Lacey smiled, god she was beautiful Danny thought, “I um, I just wanted to talk before I go.”

Danny looked away from her and continued mixing the pig’s food.

“Please?” Lacey pushed a little.

Danny shook his head no, “There’s nothing to talk about. I get it.”

“You get it?” Lacey squinted at him.

“Yeah. We’re cool, don’t worry about it.”

“I’m not worried about anything—“

“Good.”

This wasn’t going the way Lacey had hoped. She walked over to Danny and into his personal space, taking the handle of the shovel he was using to mix the pig food from him. Danny didn’t object, taking a step back as she pulled his focus to her.

“We need to talk, or I guess I need to talk.”

Danny exhaled and wiped his forehead with the back of his wrist.

“Danny what I said about us being together—that’s not the mistake I was talking about. I didn’t mean it to sound like that.”

“I know you were drinking, but you were clear and really, like I said, I get it.”

“No, you don’t.”

“Lacey—“

“I was being selfish, that was the mistake.”

“You had needs, we got it taken care of.” Danny shrugged, “I was not disappointed so I would hardly classify your performance tonight as selfish.”

“How would you classify it then?”

“Necessary?” Danny dumped the drum of pig slop into the trough.

Lacey stepped in closer, “Why are you being so cold?”

Danny closed his eyes, finding ‘letting it all go’ nearly impossible when she was standing so close. He opened them again to find her gorgeous brown eyes twinkling back at him.

“I don’t want last night to be a regret for you.” Danny admitted, “I’m just saying that I can rationalize a hook up if it’s what you needed, I’m okay with that. I was there, you don’t have to explain it.”

“I don’t regret it, not even a little bit.” Lacey bit her lip briefly, “After, I just panicked. I felt so heavy.”

“Why?”

“You told me that you wanted something longer than just the summer. I realized after that there really is so much more between us. So I wanted to undo it and just hang out, get to know you.”

“Do you still feel that way?”

“I do.”

“Yeah? How does Charlie fit into that?” Danny couldn’t hold back his jealousy no matter how badly he wanted to.

Lacey’s face fell a little, her regret from their evening now compounded by the fact that her first love was suddenly back in the picture. Danny knew when he watched her face change that the two men were definitely on Lacey’s mind in the same way.

“You’re right, okay? Let’s just work on getting to know each other. I want to.” Danny tried to sound positive, “I’m here, all summer.”

“I need closure with him. That’s how he fits into this.”

“Closure.” Danny repeated as if the words were foreign.

“Hey Lacey.” Charlie appeared at the entrance to the barn.

“Morning, Charlie.” Lacey gave him a lazy wave.

Of course, Danny thought. Perfect timing.

“I hope you find what you’re looking for.” Danny said quietly, his focus now back on cleaning up the supplies so he could finally crash.

Lacey turned and left him there, heading toward Charlie. Danny pretended like his whole heart wasn’t just walking away from him. Like he had met his soulmate and half of his very existence was leaving his body and heading to parts unknown. Damn he needed to sleep.

******

“Good morning.” Tess greeted cheerfully as Danny dragged himself through the kitchen door.

“Did Charlie tell you that breakfast is ready?” Kyle asked as he sipped his coffee.

“Oh, no, he’s talking to Lacey. I’m not very hungry, animals are all set, do you mind if I get some sleep now?”

“Of course. I’ll save some breakfast for you.” Tess said as she worked on wrapping up some of the food she had made.

Danny shuffled up the stairs and paused in front of his door. Charlie was still outside. He wondered what he and Lacey were talking about. Would they reconcile? He wouldn’t blame her if that’s what she wanted.

Danny couldn’t help it, he opened the tiny door to the roof and climbed out. It was well after 6 am now and the sun was up, masked in part by the stubborn morning fog.

Danny moved low and quietly toward the side of the house where he knew he’d be able to see them. He wasn’t spying he tried to convince himself, it was research. How long would closure take exactly?

Lacey had her back leaning against her closed car door, arms crossed in front of her chest. Charlie was leaning forward, much too close, with one arm holding himself up, conveniently bracketing one side of her. She was smiling, they both were.

Why was he doing this to himself? This was stupid. He tried to rationalize that if this were him and he was getting out of prison early, he’d definitely want to see her too. Still, something about Lacey confessing she really did have new feelings for Danny ten minutes ago made watching her and Charlie interact hit different.

Danny watched as Charlie brought his free hand up to move Lacey’s hair from her face, dragging a finger to her chin before lifting it up lovingly. Was he about to—?

Danny’s eyes were laser focused on Lacey, watching her pull her face away from his attempt and hold her hands out in front of her. She rejected him. Danny’s heart was racing but fluttered with excitement at the same time.

They only spoke for another minute before Lacey pulled her door open and stuck a leg inside her car. She didn’t hug him, but rubbed the outside of his arm and held him there as she said goodbye. Charlie turned and jogged back toward the house, Lacey the only one to look up and spot him looking down.

They stared at each other for a few moments, Lacey smiling so big at him that he could see her dimples from all the way up there on the roof. She brought her right hand up over her heart and held it there. Danny reciprocated and the two just stood there like idiots silently manifesting some sort of love pledge of allegiance. Lacey eventually gave Danny a single wave and disappeared into her car.

******

Sunday afternoon, Kyle had the boys out changing the trashcans along Main Street. Everyone could feel the tension between Charlie and Danny so Archie and Kyle did their best to keep them separated and diffused. They didn’t talk.

Monday didn’t go much better. Kyle took the boys to work with him and set them up to sweep the parking lot of the police station and then sand and paint the fencing that camouflaged the commercial dumpster around back.

As they prepared to start sanding, Archie announced that he had to use the bathroom.

“You okay if I go take a piss?”

“I don’t give a shit—“ Danny cringed and ignored his friend.

“D.”

“I don’t need a fucking babysitter, okay?” Danny didn’t do much to reassure him of anything.

Archie jogged inside and hoped for the best.

“Man I thought we’d never get to be alone.” Charlie joked.

Danny didn’t respond.

“You got a problem, Desai?” Charlie stopped sanding and turned to figure out why Danny was not saying anything.

“More than I can count, zero involving you at the moment. Thanks for checking.” Danny sanded faster.

“Bullshit.” Charlie pushed further, “She told me you two are into each other. I assume my name is on the list somewhere.”

“Does ‘she’ have a name?”

“We’re really playing this game?” Charlie stopped working and turned his full attention on Danny.

“I don’t talk about my personal life with anyone, especially not with you.”

“Jesus, it not like I’m asking to compare notes here—“

“You know what, just stop talking—“

“You’re telling me to shut up?” Charlie took a step toward Danny.

“Don’t fucking come near me.” Danny growled.

Charlie smiled, “Or what? You’ll attack me? I’ve been in big boy jail for a year, I know how to fight, I’ll destroy you.” Charlie took another step.

“Try me. I’m ready.” Danny promised as their energies finally got close enough to start feeding off of each other.

Charlie had no idea what kind of blind rage was bubbling under Danny’s skin. A lifetime of abuse and neglect from his own parents, being isolated and lonely since he was a little boy. Whitney and Archie had kept him safe and warm for the last couple of years but after being the scapegoat for just having a party, Danny was more than willing to release some of this pent up pain and darkness.

Danny took his own step closer and threw the sandpaper down into their pile of supplies.

“You know what’ll happen. You’ll go to jail and I’ll be back in between her legs. C’mon, do it—“ Charlie kept poking.

“Don’t talk about her.” Danny warned.

“Oh now you know who I’m talking about?” Charlie smiled again and Danny just wanted to punch his face in.

“Why does it look like two kittens sizing each other up out here? Where’s Archie?” Kyle appeared out of nowhere, Danny and Charlie deflating their chests real quick.

“I had to use the bathroom Uncle Kyle.” Archie returned and answered for the now silent young men, “What’d I miss?”

“Charlie? Danny?” Kyle probed, “Guys, you’re here to complete community service. That’s it.”

Kyle watched them resume sanding for a few solid minutes before heading back inside.

“This isn’t a competition.” Danny said out loud.

“Agreed, no competition.” Charlie said, cocky as ever.

“If Lacey told you we’re into each other, why are you so confident she’ll ultimately pick you?” Danny wondered.

“Guys—“ Archie knew this wasn’t over.

“You’ll be gone at the end of the summer, maybe sooner if I can get you to violate your probation.” Charlie shrugged.

“Charlie, don’t start shit. I can make your life a living hell.” Archie promised, being the Chief’s nephew was not something that was lost on Charlie.

Charlie glared between the two of them, “Stay in your lane and we won’t have problems.”

Danny walked around Charlie slowly and took up a new spot right next to him so he could own this douche bag further. He dropped his voice down low.

“Lacey is not property. If she wants to see me, I’m here for all of that. I care about her, what she thinks, how she feels—the birthmark on her hip, all of it.” It was Danny’s turn to smile, shamelessly making it known that he knew what she looked like naked.

That was it. Charlie sacked Danny low and took him to the ground. The move disoriented Danny just long enough for Charlie to punch him in the face. Danny returned the favor almost immediately, the disgusting sound of meat punching meat made Archie wince.

“Hey! Stop it!” Archie yelled, “You fucking assholes—“

Archie did his best to pull Charlie away from Danny but not before both of them connected with each other’s faces for a second time.

“Aww, what the hell?!” Kyle bellowed and ran out to help Archie pull them apart, “What is wrong with you two?! Are you kidding me with this right now?!”

Charlie’s lip was bleeding, both of them had en eye rapidly swelling.

“What happened here? Who started this?!” Kyle demanded, neither young man saying a word, “You will start talking or I’m sending you both back right now.”

“Nothing happened, Chief.” Danny went first.

When Charlie realized that Danny wasn’t about to snitch on him he quickly followed suit.

“We were just playing around.”

“No, I want to know right now. Archie?” Kyle stared at his nephew and fully expected him to tell the truth.

“I didn’t see anything. They were just messing around.” Archie tried.

“Well which was it?” Kyle was obviously frustrated.

“I didn’t see anything.”

“Perfect. Fine, you don’t want to tell me? You’ll work for this.” Kyle nodded, “You’re about to become best friends.”

Chief Masterson sat and watched the three of them finish painting the fencing. Once completed he brought them home and got them to work stacking hundreds of cords of firewood.

Kyle brought them dinner and had them eat together and go right back to stacking wood. Around 7 pm he instructed them to go inside.

“Whoa, what happened to you guys?!” Jo asked, her face horrified as they marched past Jo and Tess in the kitchen.

“Looks worse than it is.” Danny tried to smooth this over further.

Tess hopped up and got two ice packs out of the freezer and handed them to Danny and Charlie.

“Thank you.” Danny said politely as always.

“Your work today is not counting.” Kyle said with finality.

“Uncle Kyle that’s bullshit! I wasn’t fighting!” Archie objected.

“Oh, they were fighting?!” Kyle pointed to the young men with black eyes standing in his kitchen.

“No—“ Archie tried to backtrack.

“YOU were the one who chose not to tell me the truth, Archie. You got your buddy’s back, right? This is the consequence for today’s circus. Do not push me further than this point, I will not hesitate to call your PO and send you all back. I’m serious.”

“Yes, sir.” Danny responded.

“I’m trying to help you here. You’re losing this opportunity real quick. Get upstairs and I don’t want to hear a single sound for the rest of the night.

Archie, Charlie and Danny were the only children in their families. Having these sudden pseudo-brothers would take some time to get used to.

“Watch your back.” Charlie muttered behind Danny as the headed for their rooms.

“We agree on something. Cheers.” Danny winked and disappeared into his room, doing his best hide his fear.


	12. Chapter 12

Tuesday the boys worked with Tess at the farm, moving cattle and clearing manure. By the evening it was time to get ready to help Tess with her pottery class.

Archie opted to stay home again while Danny was eager to tag along in hopes of seeing Lacey. He hadn’t seen her in two days and missed her more than he probably should.

Tess invited Charlie as well, something that changed Danny’s entire demeanor. She noticed right away.

“How are you doing, Danny?” Tess checked in with him while they prepared the supplies.

Danny just shrugged. If he was honest, he wasn’t doing great.

“Can I give you some advice?” She took a seat at her pottery wheel and clasped her hands together.

“I’d like that.” Danny was craving some motherly guidance right now.

“You have to be consistent. Let her know you’re not going to give up.”

“What are you talking about?” Danny squinted at her.

“Do you like her?”

Danny was quiet, mulling over her question while he counted out the sculpting tools.

“I’m not the right person for her.” Danny let his poor confidence leak out.

“Don’t give up.” Tess reiterated, “It’s not always going to be easy. The things in life worth having never are.”

“Thanks.”

Lacey and her mother arrived shortly after. Danny greeted them right away, Lacey smiling before doing a double take when she saw the damage to his face.

“What happened?!” She reached to touch his purplish-green left eye. Danny pulled his face just out of her reach.

“Oh, it’s nothing.” Danny tried to change the subject.

“What happened to your face, son?” Judy took a turn to examine him before shooting a look at Tess.

“It was my fault, it, was—my fault.” Was all Danny could come up with.

“Judyyyy—“ Charlie nudged his way into their conversation, his own black eye and split lip now connecting the dots for the Porter women.

Judy hugged him and then pulled away to inspect Charlie’s face, “Looks like there’s an epidemic.”

“That’s all you have to say after all this time?” Charlie smiled at her.

“Oh, I have lots to say to you young man.” Judy shook her head.

Danny watched Lacey as she studied Charlie’s face and then back to his own. She was disappointed. Lacey grabbed Danny’s arm and pulled him away from her mother who was busy giving Charlie a year’s worth of scolding.

“Please tell me that this had nothing to do with me.”

Danny couldn’t look her in the eye.

“It was my fault.” Danny repeated, “I said some shit.” It was basically the truth.

“First of all, if that’s true, he shouldn’t have lost his temper like that and second—you hit him back?!”

“I’m not just going to take a beating—“ Danny objected.

“I don’t want this. I’m not doing this.”

Lacey turned to walk away but Danny reached for her arm, “It was my fault.”

Charlie watched Danny hold her arm and he didn’t like that. He excused himself from his conversation with Judy and waited until she found her seat before stepping up beside Danny.

“Get your hand off of her.” He said quietly.

Danny released Lacey’s arm and she slid in between both of them.

“You hit him?” Lacey asked Charlie, she wasn’t playing.

“He disrespected you!” He defended like it made perfect sense.

“That man?” Lacey pointed at Danny, “Would never. Try again.” She waited, Danny’s heart aching at her blind trust in him.

“Well, he told me all about your birthmark—“ Charlie’s eyebrows rose in challenge, smirk creeping across his face.

Lacey’s face reared back and she looked at Danny in shock. Danny blinked incessantly and eventually looked down.

“Wow.” Lacey whispered mostly to herself, walking away from both of them and returning to sit with her mother.

“It’s kind of fun to find ways to torture you without going back to jail.” Charlie smiled big, “She’s mad.”

“At both of us.”

“Yeah, but all I did was defend her honor. You’re the one who was talking about her body.” Charlie cringed, “I win.”

“Danny!” Jo waved him over, “I am not doing this shit all by myself. Think you and your boyfriend could take a break from mean mugging and help me out?”

“Sorry, Jo. Hey, could I borrow five bucks?”

“Seriously?!” Jo shook her head.

“Please?”

“Only if you pay me back ten.”

“Ouch, fine.” Danny sighed and took the money from Jo, “I’ll be right back.”

“Again?”

Danny threw up pray hands and walked over to squat down by Judy.

“Mrs. Porter, can I get you a coffee?”

“No.”

“Tea? Anything?” He asked innocently.

Judy looked down at Danny’s pleading face, “Young man, you have a lot to work on. We don’t want anything from you.” She said cryptically.

Danny shot Lacey a glance who ignored him completely and prepped her clay. He wondered how much her mom knew.

“I apologize, Mrs. Porter, I didn’t mean to upset either of you.”

“Last week, my daughter had a smile on her face. This week, she doesn’t. Know anything about that?”

“Yes ma’am, I do.” Danny admitted.

“Then I think we’re done talking.”

Judy stared at him, not threatening, not with scorn or disgust, just with the common knowledge that Danny had fucked up and he was no longer of consequence to her. His heart broke.

Danny stood and walked back over to the supply cart, handing Jo her five dollars back.

“Here, I don’t need it.”

“When do I get the other half?” Jo yanked the five dollar bill from Danny’s hand.

“I didn’t end up needing it—“

“Oh no, Danny, the deal was I let you borrow the five dollars and you pay me back ten. I don’t give a shit what you did or didn’t use it for.”

“Fine. I owe you five dollars.” Danny grit out, even the small shit happening today fucking sucked.

The class got underway, the patrons happily buzzing while they worked to create the next teacup in the series. Danny watched Lacey try to concentrate on her art and have a fun night with her mother. He realized that he was making it hard for her and he didn’t know how to fix it.

Out of sight out of mind Danny hoped as he made his way over to Tess to ask a very important question.

“Tess, can I please leave and walk back?”

“Now?” Tess looked at her watch.

“If I leave now I’ll be there well before nine.”

“What happened to not giving up?”

“She’s distracted by me, her mother is not happy. It would be better for everyone if I just go. Please?”

Tess kept her pottery wheel spinning as she pondered his request, “I don’t think so, Danny.”

“I just want to think, I need this time to myself.”

“Don’t make me regret this.” Tess shooed Danny away, the sight of his black eye making her wince.

“Thanks.” Danny gave her a small smile and ripped his apron off.

Lacey and Charlie both watched from different vantage points as Danny seemingly fled the studio. He didn’t acknowledge anyone as he headed straight for the exit.

The slightly cooled summer air was still heavy with humidity. Danny appreciated it nonetheless. His mind ran through the last couple of days without his consent. He really did make stupid decisions. Impulsive, selfish ones. His confidence tanked, self-loathing now at one hundred.

Before his mind could get into counting up the meager community service hours he’d completed so far, Danny was pulled from his thoughts by the sound of a very loud vehicle coming up beside him.

“Danny! Hey asshole!”

It was Scott Ogden hanging out the passenger window of what Danny could only assume was some single mother’s shitty minivan. Awesome.

Whoever was driving slowed down so they could keep pace with Danny.

“We were just talking about you.” Scott laughed, “Word is you’ve been running your mouth about Lacey and by the status of your face right now I’m guessing it’s true. Pull over—“ Scott said quietly to the driver.

Danny looked around, he was too far away from town and too far away from the Masterson’s house to run either way and have it make a difference. There were no cars around, only giant fields. Danny knew this was going to be bad.

Scott and his much shorter friend hopped out of the van and walked in opposite circles around Danny. Danny tried to keep walking but Scott pressed his hand into Danny’s chest to stop him.

“Whoa, what’s the rush? It’s not polite to walk away from someone when they’re about to kick your ass.” Scott giggled in his high pitched douche-jock frequency.

“I don’t want to fight you.” Danny said calmly, his insides pumping with adrenaline and fear.

“Who says you’re going to be able to fight back?” Scott smirked and flicked his chin up at his friend who promptly came up behind Danny and held him back.

Danny squirmed, testing the strength of the man behind him. Danny managed to hold onto the arms that were around him and lever this asshole over his back and flipped him to the ground with a thud.

Scott nodded and helped his friend to his feet, “Okay, I get you, I should have introduced you first. Danny this is my buddy Cole, Cole this is the scumbag that’s been telling everyone he raped Lacey.”

“Fuck you.” Danny spat on the ground in front of Scott sending Scott and Cole into action.

Scott held Danny this time, able to get his arm around his neck and into a proper chokehold so Cole could take a few revenge shots at Danny’s face. He connected with his good eye and then again with his already very sore black eye.

“Now they’ll match!” Cole smiled.

Danny managed to elbow Scott in the ribs, making him release his hold. Cole was ready and immediately dropped Danny to the ground and began punching and kicking him.

Danny grabbed Cole’s foot before it could connect with his ribs for what felt like the hundredth time and twisted it enough to drop him. Where was Scott?

Danny scrambled to his feet and looked around, spotting Scott walking from around the back of the minivan with a baseball bat.

“Do you like baseball, Danny?”

“Scott—“ Cole was not on board with this.

Danny helped Cole to his feet, something that Cole recognized as a peace offering. Danny hadn’t actually hit either of them, he had only used moves to free himself up.

“I would never disrespect Lacey.” Danny said, spitting away the blood that was now trickling down into his mouth, “And I have never raped anyone, although I could always start with you—“

Danny’s words caught everyone off guard.

“Excuse me?”

“Aww, don’t act all shy.” Danny smiled, his teeth now pink from the blood still pouring down his face, “I bet that asshole is so tight!” He winked at him.

“Wow, you’re a fucking psychopath.” Scott said before winding up and taking a swing.

Danny caught the bat and pushed it toward Scott as hard as he could, sending Scott backward and onto his ass. He flipped the bat so the handle was now in his hands, winding up quickly before Scott could get to his feet. Danny surprised him and turned away, swinging at the minivan and taking out the tail lights on the passenger side.

“Come on, man! This is my mother’s van! She’s going to kill me!” Cole screamed and walked over to assess the damage.

“Maybe don’t pull over to ambush someone next time?” Danny suggested.

Scott lunged at Danny while he was speaking to Cole and pinned him against the side of the van. Cole yanked the bat from Danny’s hands, both Danny and Cole relieved that at least it wasn’t Scott that got it.

Scott kneed Danny in the balls hard, sending him stumbling forward and out of breath. Scott took advantage of Danny’s forward momentum and shoved him in the ass with his foot sending Danny face first into the ground.

Scott turned and wrestled the bat from Cole.

“Scott, let’s go.” Cole tried to shut this down, “C’mon man—“

Scott swung the bat over his head and came down hard on Danny’s back, further knocking the wind out of him. He couldn’t get back up, he couldn’t roll over.

“Stop.” Danny gasped.

“Scott, knock it off—“ Cole didn’t like the eerie calm that Danny exuded and worried he would die if Scott kept going.

“Not done, pussy. You’ll fucking take it—“

Scott swung again and connected with his shoulder blade before kicking him in the side a few more times. He squatted down, using the bat to turn Danny’s head toward him, his eyes almost swollen shut.

“Although I would love to take the credit for the way you look right now, if anyone finds out who beat your ass tonight, I promise you that things won’t go down the way you think they will….and if I hear about you opening your mouth about Lacey again, you’re dead.” Scott promised, “I will kill you.”

“How did it feel?” Danny wheezed.

“Beating your ass?”

“No, having Charlie suck your dick for this favor?” Danny giggled, “He’s got nice hair, I get it—“

Scott stood up and swallowed his rage, tapping the bat against Danny’s cheek in an effort to show him how close he was to getting his skull smashed in.

The van sped away and Danny lay there and cried. It hurt. Everything hurt. He could feel his pulse every place that had trauma, which was his entire body. He was thankful for that because at least it meant that he was still alive.

Once he could breathe again he rolled over onto his back and looked up at the stars. He made a few wishes, what else did he have to lose?

Danny eventually sat up and assessed his injuries, gingerly progressing to standing up on his feet. He could barely see.

“How did those two pieces of shit manage not to break anything?” He asked himself as he felt around his rib cage.

The assault had significantly slowed Danny’s progress walking home. He found that the faster he tried to walk, the faster the blood would gush from his nose. Eventually he stopped and stood there to pinch it for a while in an attempt to get it under control.

It was almost two hours later when Tess’ truck rumbled up behind Danny en route to the farm. Danny was scared by the headlights at first, thinking that Cole and Scott were retuning. Once he heard the distinct sound of the truck’s engine he relaxed every muscle he had.

“Danny?” Jo popped out of the truck, “We thought you’d be home by now—“

Danny turned around, his face on display in the headlights.

“Oh my god! Danny!” Jo pulled her flannel shirt off and wiped his face.

“Ah—careful, careful.” Danny’s swollen lips begged her.

Tess also ran over to help and wadded up Jo’s shirt and pinched his nose with it.

“Who did this, Danny?” Tess asked softly.

Danny shook his head no, “I just fell. I tripped and fell down.” He shot a look at Charlie who waved from the truck.

“Let’s go, c’mon.”

Tess guided an essentially blind Danny toward the truck and had Charlie and Jo hop in the back together. Danny slid himself into the seat, thankful at least his ass wasn’t super painful.

“Talk to me Danny. What happened?” Tess tried again now that it was just the two of them.

“I told you, I fell—“

“Okay, does the ground’s face look similar to yours right now?” She tried to use his analogy to assess how much trouble he was in.

“No.”

“Better or worse?”

“They’re fine. I didn’t hurt anyone.”

“They? This was more than one person?!”

“I’m not here to cause problems, I’m here to complete this community service and go back home. I just fell. I fell down.”

Danny squinted at the clock in the truck: 9:15 his eyebrows rose slightly.

“Am I in trouble?”

“Since you had hours to walk home, I didn’t tell Kyle that the plans had changed. He still thinks you’re with me and it’s the truth.”

“How am I going to explain this to him?”

“I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what happened.”

Danny stayed quiet, not wanting to continue lying about it to the one person who seemed to believe in him the most.

They pulled up the driveway and Jo and Charlie headed inside. Tess helped Danny out of the truck and guided him up the steps and into the kitchen.

“Hey guys, how was class—what the hell happened?!” Kyle looked at everyone, no one had new injuries except for Danny.

Kyle’s eyes went straight to Charlie who held his hands up in surrender, “I didn’t do it.” He said and shrugged.

Tess sat Danny down at the kitchen table and got two bags of frozen peas out of the freezer. She peeled Jo’s blood soaked shirt away from Danny’s nose and inspected his face, the bleeding had stopped.

“Here Danny, keep your head back and hold these against your face for a minute while I get the first aid kit.

Archie thumped down the stairs and into the kitchen.

“Hey fam.” Archie looked over at Danny, “What’s up, D?”

“Nothing man, just clumsy.” Danny muffled from behind the frozen vegetables.

“Clumsy?” Kyle knew where this was going, his nostrils flared.

“I fell.”

“You didn’t fall, Danny. You think I’m an idiot? You got your ass beat. Who did this?” Kyle tried.

“Me. I did this. I just fell.” Danny stuck to his guns.

“Alright, let’s clean out the cuts.” Tess returned and pulled up a chair next to Danny. She pulled the pea bags away from his face and began to gently disinfect him.

“Holy shit dude—what the fuck happened?!” Archie was pissed, he looked at Charlie then too, Charlie standing there innocently with a smirk that didn’t match his body language, “You know what happened!” Archie crowded toward Charlie, furious.

“I’m stopping you right there. Everyone head to bed, now.” Kyle demanded.

“Let me know if you need anything.” Jo offered Danny and shuffled off to the office.

“‘Night!” Charlie took the stairs two at a time.

“You too, Arch.” Kyle pointed to the stairs.

“I want to know who did this! I’m not going anywhere!”

“Nobody did anything. I fell.”

“Now, Archie.” Kyle pushed his nephew toward the stairs.

“Ah—“ Danny flinched.

“Hold still, hold still.”

Tess bandaged Danny up the best she could and then returned the bags of peas to his very swollen eyes.

“I want details.” Kyle demanded and sat across from him at the kitchen table.

“Well, I was walking and then I tripped and I fell on my face—“

Kyle smashed his fist into the table and made Tess and Danny both jump.

“That’s bullshit! Did Charlie do this?!”

“No, sir.”

“Tess? Any input here?!”

“He said he fell, Kyle.”

“This looks like a fall to you?!”

“Please—please don’t fight about this. Tess didn’t see me fall, she found me after.”

“How is that possible when you were at the studio together?”

Danny swallowed hard, “I left early to walk home. I tripped and fell on my walk back, landed on my face.”

“That’s what happened?” Kyle nodded.

“Yes, sir.”

“Stand up.”

Danny put the peas down and stood slowly, the trauma his body was trying hard to fix now making everything swell.

Kyle walked over and pulled up Danny’s shirt, gently lifting it up and over his head.

“Oh my god, Danny.” Tess covered her mouth in shock.

Danny’s whole body was covered with deep purple marks. Kyle walked around behind Danny and viewed the worst one at his shoulder. Kyle had seen plenty of beating victims in his twenty years as an officer, he knew exactly what happened to Danny.

“Maybe you fell, but that doesn’t explain how you beat yourself with a baseball bat.”

Danny’s heart rate sped up.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“DAMNIT, DANNY! Who did this?!” Kyle shouted.

“Kyle, give him a break. Let him get some sleep—“ Tess said, “I’ll feed the animals tomorrow.” She said to Danny.

“No. Danny can do it.” Kyle insisted, “You just fell, right? You landed on your face?”

“Yes, sir.” Danny said grimly, understanding that he would now be paying for this beating twice.

“Then you should have no problem doing the job you asked for.” Kyle fully expected him to crack.

He didn’t.

“It’s no problem, Chief.”

“Kyle, he can’t even see.”

“He’s got the peas, he’ll be fine.” Kyle dug his heels into this just as deeply as Danny had behind his excuse.

“May I go to bed now?”

“I want pictures. Put your hands at your sides.” Kyle took a couple shots with his cellphone, “Turn around.” And a few more of Danny’s back.

“Take this with you—“ Tess handed Danny some water and a bottle of Tylenol.

“Thank you. Good night.” Danny stuffed the bags of peas under his arm and climbed the stairs like a ninety year old man.

Once inside his room he set his alarm for the morning, laid down gently, positioned the peas on his face and cried again, the red translucent trails running down his temples and pooling in his ears.

Archie and Charlie heard Danny settle in and both of them got up to use the bathroom at the same time. Archie’s face was grim, threatening.

“If I find out this was you, you’ll look worse.” Archie promised as they reached the top of the stairs.

“You sure about that?” Charlie smiled, “I’d watch your mouth. I’m back now and this is my hometown.”


	13. Chapter 13

Early the next morning, Danny slid the mushy, defrosted bags of peas off his now soaked pillow and into the trashcan next to his bed.

“Fuck me.” Danny groaned as he carefully sat himself up. 

He went straight for the Tylenol and swallowed a few, hoping they would do anything to take his pain away. Danny swung his legs around and stood like he was a newborn calf, his boots still on from the night before.

“How am I going to do this?” He winced as he searched for some clothes.

Danny decided to just leave on the blood stained pants he had worn to bed last night and try to focus all of his attention and energy on how to put a shirt on. There’s no way he could have gotten his boots off and on again by himself to change them anyway.

He managed to get a long sleeved t-shirt on around his neck and waited to thread his arms through until after he visited the bathroom. Perhaps those extra few minutes would give the Tylenol enough time to start working.

Danny waddled down stairs and into the bathroom, catching his purple face in the mirror and scaring himself.

“Oh my god.” 

He stepped closer and frowned at the blood-filled blister that now encircled his left eye, the right not looking too much better. At least the swelling had gone down enough for him to see again.

He stepped back and inspected his chest and the half moon shaped bruises that dotted his sides. He could definitely make out the toe marks of Cole and Scott’s boots.

Danny grabbed Tess’ smaller hand mirror, turned around and held it up to see his back. The huge obvious baseball bat bruises a deep port color and slightly raised. He suddenly felt sick.

Danny twisted around toward the toilet quickly and dry heaved a few times, the last attempt tossing up two perfectly intact Tylenol pills amongst some bright yellow bile. The retching causing Danny tremendous pain and as traumatic as it was to throw up, he was pleased to not see any blood come up with it.

He calmed himself down, peed and finally stuffed his arms through his shirt. He carefully splashed some water on his face and headed out into the kitchen pantry in search of more pain medicine. 

“Hey, you okay?” Jo stuck her head out of the office and whispered to him.

“Do you have any more pain medicine?”

“I think we have Tylenol—“ Jo rummaged around beside him.

“It’s in my room.” 

Danny was overwhelmed and dreaded the thought of having to climb back up to get them.

“On it!” 

Jo padded the stairs lightly and into Danny’s room, spying the two faint blood rings on his pillow case, the saddest watercolor painting. He had been crying. She grabbed the bottle and slid out of Danny’s room as quietly as possible.

“You need to eat something when you take these or they’ll make you puke.” Jo explained as she pulled a banana off the bunch and poured Danny some new water.

“Yeah, I figured that out, unfortunately.” Danny accepted the banana and ate it as quickly as his swollen mouth would let him chew, “Thanks for helping me.” 

“You shouldn’t be out there doing this. I’m coming with you.” Jo walked over and pulled her boots and jacket on.

“Chief said I had to.”

“Yeah, I heard that, we all did. He didn’t say you couldn’t have help though. Let’s go.” 

“Why are you helping me?”

Jo pulled Danny to his feet and helped him into one of the old barn coats that buttoned down the front. 

“We’re friends, right? I don’t know, I’ve never had a brother before. I’m just trying it out I guess.” 

“Thank you, seriously.”

Jo carefully pulled his hair up into a bun and walked with him out to the barn. She set Danny up on top of one of the hay bales and asked him to loop a few hundred yards of rope up for the horses while she got to work feeding.

“Did he get up?” Kyle asked after rolling over and seeing his wife watching the surveillance camera footage beside their bed a couple hours later.

“He did. Jo’s helping. She’s almost done.” Tess said with noticeable sadness in her voice, “What are we going to do, Kyle?”

“I’m going to find out who did this, with or without Danny’s help.”

“It has to involve Lacey somehow.” 

“Lacey? You think Lacey did this?” Kyle was so confused.

“No, Kyle.” Tess rolled her eyes, “Danny’s in love with her.”

“I mean, they had one dinner and went to a party—“

“That’s all that’s necessary. You should see him fall all over himself to please her and Judy during class.”

“So what are you saying?”

“Something happened. What about Charlie? Charlie used to date Lacey.” Tess pointed out, “They already got physical, there must be a connection—“

“This is more than just some beef about a mutual crush on a girl. What else did Danny say last night?”

“He may have indicated it was more than one person.”

Kyle let that sink in for a bit and rolled over onto his back.

“Charlie was with you the whole class?”

“Yes. He did go to the front for some fresh air, but he never left.”

“Where did you pick Danny up?”

“On our road, just past the McNally Park fields.”

Kyle sprang up and began quickly getting ready.

“What are you going to do?”

“Maybe a handful of kids beating up Danny on our dead end street? I’m going to retrace his steps. There has to be evidence out there.”

Kyle left their room in a hurry, still buttoning up his shirt. He grabbed his jacket and hat and bolted out the side door for his cruiser.

Danny heard the car start up from inside the barn. He stood up and tried to make himself look busy. Kyle didn’t even look his way as he sped down the driveway and around the corner.

******

Kyle drove slowly down to the area where Tess said she had picked Danny up. He scoured the road from his car for about the length of a football field before seeing something peculiar in the distance. 

He rolled to a stop and got out, shining his flashlight and squinting at what appeared to be tire tracks. He could see them running parallel in the grass on the opposite side of the road, as if someone had pulled over. 

On the other side, further into the perfectly manicured grass of McNally Park field, were circular tire tracks appearing as if the vehicle had made a u-turn and headed back the way they came. 

Kyle walked the circular tracks first since they were closer to him, looking for anything that someone might have tossed or left behind. His eye caught something in the light of the sun that had finally broken through the morning fog.

As he walked toward it he found what he was looking for. Shards of broken plastic dotted along the sandy road. Splinters of reflective yellow, red and white indicating someone must have some new damage to their vehicle.

Kyle took photos of everything, pulled some gloves on and cleaned up every single piece he could find, stuffing it all inside of an evidence bag. 

He spotted more disruption to the graded sand around him and further into the grass. He imagined whoever had pulled over had beaten Danny right here.

Kyle got back in his car are looked around at the buildings as he made his way into town. He stopped at the McNally Park office and inquired about video cameras for their fields citing people dumping garbage near his property. They had nothing to give, no cameras that faced that way.

He did have some success with the library’s camera that faced the entrance to this road. The library director sat with Chief Masterson as they watched the footage from last night together at double speed.

Kyle watched Danny, able bodied and unhurt, walk along the entrance of the road at around 7:30 pm. Ten minutes later, a tan caravan was seen driving along the same road, disappearing for a half hour and then speeding away in the direction it had entered from.

Kyle replayed the van’s entrance and exit, noting that the rear passenger lights illuminated extra bright when the van was leaving. 

Just after 9 pm, Kyle spotted his wife’s truck enter. His stomach lurched at the thought of Danny suffering along the road for over an hour before Tess found him. 

Kyle sent himself the video footage and thanked the director for their cooperation before heading out to cruise for a tan minivan. Just after lunch time, he struck gold—er tan.

Parked by Johnny Cakes was a late model tan minivan with a busted rear taillight. Kyle turned his lights on and got out of his cruiser, walking over to the front of the vehicle. He pulled out his notepad, all official.

“Um, hey Chief Masterson—“ A nervous young man finally approached.

Kyle looked over to see Cole Farrell, flanked by the Green Grove District Attorney’s son, Scott Ogden, fidgeting nervously beside him. What the hell did Danny get himself into?

“Morning, gentlemen. Know whose vehicle this is?” Kyle continued to scribble in his notepad.

“It’s my mother’s. We were just coming to move it, I didn’t put any money in the meter, I totally forgot. I’m sorry—“ Cole assumed he was getting a parking ticket.

Kyle continued walking his loop around the van and stopped at the broken taillight.

“What happened here?” Kyle asked nonchalantly.

“Oh! Um—“ Cole stumbled for an answer and looked at Scott for help.

“Actually, I’m glad you’re here. We were going to stop by after lunch and file a report.”

“What kind of report?”

“One of those probation kids—Danny—he smashed the taillight with a baseball bat.” Scott accused like he was an eight year old tattle tale on the playground talking to Danny’s mother.

“When was this?” Kyle actually began writing real words now.

“Last night.” Scott admitted, the two young men sharing nervous glances while Scott crafted the story.

“Okay, do me a favor. I’m gonna have you, Cole, stay right here for me. Scott, let’s take a walk over by my car and have a chat.”

“We really need to get back inside before they toss our food—we can swing down to the station in like a half hour?” Scott tried.

“I have a criminal on probation living at my house being accused of using a baseball bat for the destruction of property, this happens now.” Kyle held his hand out and guided Scott toward his cruiser.

“I told you everything—“ Scott said begrudgingly.

Kyle turned him so he was facing away from Cole.

“Hey what happened to your hand there?” Kyle pointed to Scott’s right hand, spying deep purple bruises across his knuckles that matched the level of trauma he saw on Danny’s body the night before.

“Hurt it playing basketball.” Scott stuck his hands in his pockets.

“Ouch.” Kyle pulled Scott’s hand out and took a pic.

“Why do you need a picture?”

“Looks kinda cool.” Kyle shrugged, “Okay, so the taillight. Where did this happen?” Kyle posed, notebook in hand and ready for the bullshit details.

“We were playing basketball at McNally Park last night.” Scott began slowly.

“What time?”

“I’m not sure, 6:30?”

“Danny showed up?”

“Yeah, he was dragging a bat beside him and just smashed Cole’s taillight and took off toward your house.”

“Oh, this is an open and shut case then.” Kyle smiled and nodded happily as he tucked his notebook in his shirt pocket.

“Yeah?”

“Definitely, the basketball courts have surveillance cameras. I’ll just pull the footage and we’ll get him packed up and sent to jail. Thanks for your cooperation. I’ll just get some details from Cole and I’ll be on my way.”

Kyle took a few steps back toward Cole.

“Uh, wait Chief, um, I didn’t actually see him do it—but um, he had the bat while he was walking and the taillight wasn’t smashed before. We just noticed it when we got in the van this morning. I assume it was him.”

“Okay, thanks Scott. Hang out right here.” Kyle took a turn with Cole, “Hey Cole, so give me a rundown of what happened with the van.”

“I’m really okay with just paying for the damage. I don’t want to make that kid mad—“

“It doesn’t work that way, if Danny is walking around town smashing things with a baseball bat he needs to be held accountable.”

“Right, okay, so I saw him with the bat and he smashed the taillight.”

“You saw him do it?”

“Yeah.”

“Where did it happen?”

“We were playing games down at the arcade place and Danny came out of the pottery studio. We saw Charlie in there so we chatted for a bit. Danny had walked down the hill but then he came back with the bat and smashed the light as he walked by.”

“I see, so right here on Main Street. Was Scott with you?”

“Yeah, he was with me.”

“You both saw Danny do this?”

“Yeah. We yelled at him but he ran off.”

“Why didn’t you call the police then?”

“It was just a taillight.” Cole shrugged.

“Where were you parked?”

“Oh, down there.” Cole pointed and they walked toward the pottery studio, “One of these spots.”

Kyle looked around for a long time, “I don’t see any broken pieces—“

“Maybe someone swept them up?” Cole suggested, Kyle watching carefully as he moved his hands around.

“Oh man, did you hurt your hands playing basketball too?” Kyle picked up Cole’s hands and took a pic of his as well, “You guys gotta go easier, you’ll never make it to the NBA with busted hands.”

Kyle waved for Scott and the three of them all walked toward the back of the van.

“Alright guys. Thank you for your help. I’ll be in touch if I have any more questions.” Kyle thanked them and headed straight for the District Attorney’s office.

“Kyle, good morning—“ Stephen Ogden, Green Grove’s District Attorney welcomed the police chief with open arms as he typically did.

“Steve, I got a case I’d like to run by you.” 

“Of course, have a seat.”

Kyle laid out the details, showed the evidence he had, the taillight pieces, the cropped photos of the victim, the video footage, the conflicting statements, the photos of the young men’s hands, all of it.

“Sounds like a crystal clear assault case, maybe even attempted murder. I’d work charges on this, who is the victim?

“Danny Desai.”

“One of your boarders. Interesting.” He made a few notes, “Who are the defendants?”

“Cole Farrell—“

“Oh, well, there you go—“ Stephen rolled his eyes.

“And your son.”

Stephen laughed, his smile fading when he realized that Kyle wasn’t kidding. His head kicked back, astounded to hear that combination of words leave Chief Masterson’s mouth.

“You’re not serious?”

“What do we do here, Steve? Do I call the state?”

Kyle watched the anxiety on his long time friend’s face grow as he ran though the scenarios in his head, all of them coming back to public shame, losing his career.

“My kid wouldn’t do this—“

“They drove up behind Danny while he was walking home and beat him with a baseball bat.”

“There’s got to be more to this, it has to be self defense. Those kids you house are criminals, they shouldn’t even be here. You promised the town that you’d protect us, now look what’s happened.”

“Self defense.” Kyle shook his head, “I counted, he was hit over twenty times, at least twice with a bat. That’s revenge Steve, we’ve seen it a million times.”

“Scott wouldn’t do this.”

“They’re Charlie McBride’s best friends.”

“So?”

“That’s the motive. Charlie lost his girlfriend when he went to prison, he comes back and she’s interested in Danny.”

“So you think Charlie put them up to this?”

“I do.”

Stephen stood up and walked over to open his door. Kyle didn’t budge.

“I’ll get back to you.”

“Steve, they’re lying about what happened.”

“They’re scared.”

“Two minutes ago you were ready to clean this up.”

“It’s my son, Kyle.”

“End of day or I have to call the state attorney.” Kyle left the DA’s office and headed out to his cruiser.


	14. Chapter 14

“I should have gotten a baseball scholarship.” 

Lacey heard, followed by some hearty laughs, as she exited the post office. She had been running errands in prep for her college start at the end of the summer. Today was all about renewing her passport with thoughts of going anywhere but here for her first spring break in a little less than a year from now.

Danny and Charlie had disappointed her, pissing all over each other in an attempt to mark a territory that belonged to neither of them. How dare they be so bold as to think that they were competing for her? 

Charlie had held her heart for a long time, but something about him had changed since he had been in prison. Lacey had all the budding feelings for Danny, but if this was what she could expect from him when someone else was hovering near her, she wanted no part of it. 

Fun had been what she was after this summer and so far she hadn’t really found it with either of these men.

“Lacey!” A few of the people hanging out in the parking lot cheered when they recognized her.

Lacey smiled warmly at the group, recognizing them all from school, “Hey guys, causing trouble?”

“Always.” Scott answered, “Hey how’s our favorite delinquent?”

“Charlie? I have no idea.” Lacey said coldly, remembering the matching black eyes Charlie and Danny were sporting the night before. 

After Danny had left early from the pottery class Lacey had dodged all of Charlie’s attempts at conversation. She meant what she had said to them, she was done with all that. If these boys were interested they’d have to grow the fuck up and show her a hell of a lot more substance.

“You haven’t made up yet?” Cole looked at her confused.

“Uh, no.” Lacey laughed.

“Well, that Desai kid won’t be giving you any more trouble.” Scott boasted proudly, “Should make it a lot easier for you two now.”

“Danny? What are you talking about?” 

“You didn’t hear? Someone beat the shit out of him last night.” Scott smiled even brighter.

Lacey’s mouth opened in pure shock, she couldn’t control it. Cole noticed her reaction and instantly felt sick. Scott was oblivious and just kept talking.

“Yep, he won’t be talking shit about you ever again, bet.”

Lacey tried to figure out what he was talking about, not that it was ever okay to beat the shit out of someone, but why did Scott think that Danny had even deserved it?

“What was he saying?” Her voice shook a little.

“Just running his mouth, about the rape—“ Scott nodded and looked at her like he was the great equalizer and he had made her situation just.

“Who told you that? Danny has never hurt me.” Lacey said which surprised Scott a little.

“Scott!” One of the other guys yelled for him, “We gotta roll, man.”

“Well, it’s done.” Scott shrugged, “I’ll see you.” He said and jogged over to his friend’s car like everything was normal.

Cole was the last one standing. 

“Cole. What happened?”

“I don’t want to be involved—“ He took a few steps away and headed for his mom’s van. 

Lacey followed him and cut him off before he reached the door. She saw the guilt all over his face.

“Please tell me what happened to him—“

“We were getting dinner, okay?” Cole began, “Scott and I, we were walking to the diner and Danny blew by us. Scott shoulder-checked him and I thought that would be it, but then Charlie waved us over and told us that Danny had just admitted that he raped you and that he was commenting on your body and stuff—“

Lacey thought back to hearing a very different version of that story come from Charlie’s mouth last night. A version that Danny had been trying to confess and apologize to her for. 

“Scott and I took off after him.” Cole let that statement hang, not wanting to admit the rest.

“Why didn’t you talk to me?! Why didn’t you ask more questions?!” Lacey knew what must have happened next.

“Charlie’s been our best friend forever, you too. If he says that Danny raped you and is bragging about it and that asshole just walked by us—“

“I get it, but Danny’s on probation, wouldn’t it have been easier to just call the police?! Danny never hurt me, he certainly didn’t rape me.”

“I’m sorry.”

Lacey stormed away and headed to her car, tears finally flowing. She spotted Chief Masterson walking toward the police station from the parking lot and started running after him.

“Chief!” Lacey shouted and ran faster.

“Lacey, hi.”

“What happened to Danny?!” She wiped her tears away.

“I was actually going to call you and see if you could come in and talk to me. Got a few minutes?”

Kyle led Lacey into the station and she told him all she knew.

“Was Charlie’s reasoning true?” Kyle had to ask.

“No.” Lacey scoffed emphatically, “Danny has never hurt me.”

“Why do you think Charlie would say that?”

“Danny said something to Charlie the other day to make him jealous. That’s how they ended up with the black eyes. I was shocked that Danny would do that.”

“What did Danny say?” Kyle had been hoping he’d find out the true root cause of their original fist fight.

“I don’t know exactly, but he made sure Charlie knew we slept together.”

Kyle paused and looked up at Lacey, a bit surprised due to the fact that Danny had said they weren’t sleeping together.

“You’ve been sleeping with Danny?”

“I mean—“ Lacey hesitated, she didn’t want to make things worse for Danny.

“I am trying to corroborate what Danny has told me, nobody needs to know outside of this office.”

“It was one time—“

“Before or after Regina’s party?” Kyle was trying to determine if Danny had been lying to him.

“Um, during?” Lacey grimaced, this sucked.

“Did you tell Charlie to have someone do this to Danny?

“What?! No! Oh my god, no. I care about Danny so much, I wouldn’t do anything to hurt him.” 

Kyle believed her, but it was part of the process, “What else happened?”

“After I heard what Danny was telling Charlie about us, I told them both to just leave me alone. I don’t want this back and forth, I’m not to be won.”

Kyle sat quietly and continued writing down everything Lacey had told him. He needed to talk to Danny again and formally get his side of the story.

“Is he okay?” Lacey asked with a bit of apprehension.

“I can’t discuss the details just yet.”

“I need to see him.”

“I’m sorry, Lacey, you can’t see him right now. I’ll tell him we spoke and that you said hello.”

“Please—“

“No.”

******

Kyle didn’t wait for the end of the day to put a call into the state attorney for this obvious conflict of interest. 

Stephen Ogden was correct when he had reminded Kyle that he had promised to protect the citizens of Green Grove. If Scott, Cole and Charlie were the bad guys, Kyle was going to make sure they were prosecuted. Danny was not the enemy here, he was a member of their community now and Kyle was prepared to protect him.

The state attorney reviewed Kyle’s evidence and called Stephen Ogden, Scott Ogden and Cole Farrell in to the police station immediately to talk about some deals.

By the end of their meeting it was decided that instead of attempted murder charges, Scott would plead guilty to aggravated assault and Cole would plead guilty to simple assault in exchange for testifying against Charlie.

Their intention was to charge Charlie with conspiracy to commit murder. The only thing they needed now was for Danny to admit what had happened to him. Without that, the charges against Scott and Cole would be dropped and Charlie would not be held accountable for orchestrating this insidious mess.

The group agreed to head over to Kyle’s house so Mr. Ogden, the state attorney and Kyle could all interview Danny and hopefully assist with Charlie McBride’s arrest. The boys agreed to come along in hopes that if Danny saw that Kyle had already figured everything out that it would sway him to file the assault charges.

Kyle had not disclosed to anyone that Danny was adamant that he had fallen down. Kyle hoped he’d be able to speak with Danny before he gave his official statement and convince him that if he told the truth, he’d find justice for himself and help put Charlie away for the next twenty years.

******

Regina: What am I hearing about? Are you good?  
Lacey: It’s all lies  
Regina: so Scott didn’t beat Danny with a baseball bat?  
Lacey: A baseball bat?! Are you serious?!  
Regina: Did Danny really rape you?  
Lacey: Of course not!

She had to see him. Cole had conveniently left out the part about using a baseball bat. Lacey’s stomach rolled.

Lacey drove to the Masterson’s and knocked on the kitchen door. Tess answered reluctantly.

“Hi Lacey—now’s not a good time.”

Lacey and Tess just stared at each other for a few moments, both of them not wanting to talk about the battered man that was resting just above them in an effort to simply not burst into tears.

“You can’t see him.” Tess said regretfully.

“I’ll only stay for a minute.” Her voice grew louder, desperate. 

“No. Kyle is working an active investigation and he’s asked that Danny not be disturbed.”

“He’s not here.” Lacey pointed out, “I won’t talk to him about what happened, I just have to see him!” Her volume could now be considered yelling at this point. 

“Lacey—“ Tess began to object again.

“Where’s Charlie?” 

“He’s harvesting with Archie and Jo in the orchard.”

“You know what, call Chief if you have to, I’m coming in.” Lacey pushed past Tess and headed for the stairs. 

Tess followed her and reached out to grab her arm, “Five minutes and then you have to leave.”

“Okay.”

“Danny’s in bad shape. Nothing’s broken, but you need to know that it’s bad.”

Lacey swallowed hard and continued up the staircase, inching quietly toward the middle bedroom, stepping in and closing the door behind her.

Danny had heard a lot of what was said downstairs. Just knowing that Lacey had elbowed her way inside so she could check on him made him want to cry. After she basically told him to fuck off the night before he had just assumed that they were done.

“Danny?”

Danny was laying on his back, his head propped up a little, a thick washcloth covering his face. He was wearing pajama pants and a t-shirt. Lacey could see a few bruises peeking out on his upper arms and up his neck.

“Hi.” His voice was rough, almost dehydrated.

She walked over to the bed and picked up one of his hands that he had clasped across his belly.

“I just found out—“ She wasn’t sure what to say, “Do you want company?”

Danny squeezed her hand back, “I’m not sure you should see me right now.”

“Do you want me to go?” She asked honestly.

“No, no, c’mere.” He tugged on her hand so she’d sit beside him. 

He grunted when she sat a little too close, making her immediately scoot away. 

“I’m sorry! Oh—“

Danny squeezed her hand again to tell her it was okay.

“I’m battling a migraine on top of everything else. I’m sorry about this cloth, I’m just trying to keep the light out, it’s working a little.”

Lacey teared up at how small he sounded. She covered her mouth so no spontaneous whimpers would escape.

“Can I see?” She asked gently.

“You shouldn’t, it looks awful.”

“Please?”

“Yeah, okay—“

Lacey gently peeled the cloth away, Danny’s previously flawless skin now patch-worked in shades of purple, red and green. He kept his eyes closed.

“Oh my god—“

Lacey ran her fingers gently around the trauma, deeply pained by seeing the result of someone else’s hate on such a kind and loving person. It wasn’t fair.

Her rage grew with each passing thought about how Danny supposedly received these injuries. She pulled his shirt up revealing the deep bruising to his sides, his rib cage tattoo nearly unrecognizable.

Lacey carefully pulled Danny to sit up, hiking the back of his shirt up so she could see what was obviously severe trauma from a blunt object. Regina was right, he was beaten with a baseball bat. 

Danny hadn’t even tried to stop her, he knew she’d push to inspect him whether he wanted her to see or not. He continued to keep his eyes closed to help with his migraine and to spare her seeing his gruesome red eye.

“This is unacceptable.” 

Lacey stood abruptly, causing Danny to finally open his eyes. She did a double take as the white of his left eye glowed back at her in a bright blood red.

“Wha—“

“Like I said, it looks awful.” Danny groaned and laid himself back down.

“Who did this?”

“You don’t already know?” Danny stared back at her.

“I want to hear it from you.” 

“Please, don’t make me think about this right now.” Danny felt nauseous.

Lacey paced a few times before she made her way back over to sit with him. He pulled her down further until she laid beside him and snuggled in tight, embracing the silence and just enjoying each other’s warmth.

“Lacey, I’m sorry.” Danny said with the heaviest, most regretful inflection that she had ever heard, “He wanted me to know that he’d had you for years. He wanted me to know my place. I just—I wasn’t strong enough to just let him think whatever bullshit he wanted. I should have ignored him, I should have done a lot of things—“ Danny shook his head, “I apologize that I told him something that was ours, I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“I forgive you, okay?”

Danny sighed, wishing he could take it back.

“If I had not said anything this would not have happened.” Danny was on the verge of crying again.

“Shh, stop. You don’t know that. Honestly, I probably would have done the same thing.”

Lacey re-covered Danny’s eyes with the cloth before snuggling back in beside him. She slid an arm under his neck, curled it around so she could stroke his forehead and locked him into an embrace that made him feel loved, wanted and safe for the first time in his entire life. 

Danny closed his eyes. He needed someone to be that person, at least for this moment. He let himself relax, melting next to Lacey’s body, his breathing falling into a slow rhythm. Lacey closed her eyes then too.


	15. Chapter 15

“Fuck.” Charlie muttered under his breath.

He watched from the orchard as a parade of vehicles drove up the Masterson’s dead end road and turn into the driveway.

Jo looked over and took stock of the cavalcade: her father’s cruiser which contained what appeared to be several passengers, Mr. Ogden’s car and zooming up behind them was Mr. Porter.

“Maybe you shouldn’t have put the hit out on my best friend.” Archie shrugged and smiled, “Just a thought.”

“Fuck you.”

“What do you think’s going on?” Jo asked no one in particular.

“I’m going back to jail, genius.” Charlie bit out.

Jo knew that Archie would have her back if Charlie suddenly decided to go rouge, but she could feel the potential for problems growing as the vehicles parked near the house.

“You don’t know that.”

Charlie watched as Scott and Cole exited Kyle’s cruiser, both of them in cuffs.

“Yes I do.” Charlie said, the look of betrayal painted all over his face.

“I thought you said you didn’t do it—“ Jo tried to manage Charlie’s emotions that were now quickly spiraling behind the scenes.

“I didn’t.”

“Then they’re obviously just here to talk to Danny. He’s in no shape to visit the station.”

The three of them watched as everyone entered the Masterson’s house, Kyle lagging behind to fill in a frantic Samuel Porter who had no idea what was happening.

“Should we go—?” Archie began to wonder out loud.

Tess ran out and waved them in just as the words had left his mouth.

“I guess so.” Jo looked at Charlie and the three of them headed toward the house.

“Is that Lacey’s car?” Charlie squinted, “When did she get here?!”

The three of them spied Lacey’s VW sitting off to the side of the driveway, just out of sight from where they had been working all day. No one had seen her arrive.

“Where is my daughter?!” Sam asked Tess after making his way through the sea of other bodies that had now taken up shop in her tiny kitchen.

“She’s up with Danny.” Tess admitted, glancing at Kyle who was livid.

“I’ll get them.” Kyle took off up the stairs.

Kyle walked right into Danny’s room, not sure what he’d find. Lacey and Danny snuggled up and passed out while holding hands together had not even crossed his mind.

The cloth had rolled away from Danny’s face and Kyle got a good look at day number two of his facial trauma. It was gnarly and he couldn’t help but wince.

“Danny.” Kyle said as he walked closer, reaching over to nudge an unhurt Lacey instead of risking hurting Danny any further, “Lacey—“

“Mr. Masterson?” Lacey carefully pulled her limbs from around Danny’s body, “Oh my god, we must have fallen asleep—“ 

Kyle held his hand up, “I was clear that you were not to come here and see him.” 

Danny shifted himself into a seated position as his groggy mind tried to catch up. Did they just start talking? How long was he sleeping for?

“For the record, Tess said no and I wouldn’t listen. I was only going to stay for a couple minutes.”

Kyle nodded and looked between the two of them, “I’m glad Danny finally got some sleep. He needed that.”

Lacey glanced at her phone, three texts, four missed calls all from her dad. It had been almost an hour since she had laid down beside Danny for their impromptu nap.

“Your father is here, you need to go downstairs.”

“Okay.” Lacey squeezed Danny’s hand and headed out of the room.

“There’s a full house down there. Scott, Cole. The district attorney for Green Grove happens to be Scott’s father, he’s here too as well as the state attorney.”

Danny sat up straighter and smoothed his hair.

“What’s happening?” Danny asked nervously.

“We don’t have much time, but I’m asking you to tell the truth.”

Danny couldn’t shake Scott’s promise of death if he ever disclosed who beat the shit out of him. Danny wasn’t a punk ass bitch, but he wasn’t a snitch either.

“I told you, I fell.” Danny’s nostrils flared.

“Scott and Cole confessed in order to get Charlie back in jail. They have assault charges pending and right now we’re here to violate Charlie’s parole. He’s going back tonight to serve the other eighteen months and he’ll have conspiracy to commit murder charges added. He’s looking at twenty five additional years.”

“If convicted.” Danny didn’t like these odds.

“Danny, if your official statement doesn’t include what really happened, the deals are off and all three of them walk.”

“I have to survive here for the whole summer, Chief. If they don’t get time—“

Kyle watched Danny’s anxiety rise sharply. He slid off the bed and poured himself onto his feet, pacing immediately.

“I’m not going to let them hurt you again.” Kyle promised, “Let’s get these guys away from Lacey too.” He hoped those words would seal the deal.

“Did my parents call?” Danny ignored him.

“I left them both messages. They haven’t called me back yet.”

“So, if I fell, what happens to me? What am I looking at?”

Kyle ticked his head in curiosity, “What do you mean?”

“What are my charges? When do I go back?”

“You got the shit beat out of you. There are no charges, you were assaulted! Do you want to talk to a lawyer first? I can set that up if that’s you want.”

Danny didn’t know what to say. He was always the one causing problems whether he was really involved or not. He didn’t know how to handle not being in trouble this time.

“I’m not in trouble?”

“Danny, I’m begging you. Please just tell the truth. Trust me on this.”

Kyle pulled the bedroom door open, Danny’s mind still wrestling with which way he should go.

******

Lacey had exited Danny’s room and headed for the stairs. Just as she approached the bottom of the staircase, Charlie, Jo and Archie made it back inside the house. 

Charlie snaked his way around the perimeter of the kitchen and managed to wedge himself right next to her.

“Hey.” He smiled, “What’s going on here?” He asked innocently as Chief’s guests continued rambling amongst themselves.

If looks could kill, Charlie would be dead. Lacey didn’t hesitate, pulling back and slapping Charlie as hard as she could across his face. Sam gasped from a few steps away, catching the cross breeze Lacey had created by how hard she had swung.

“Fuck!” Charlie grabbed his cheek, the sting overwhelming him.

The impact of Lacey’s slap gained Kyle’s attention from where he stood at the top of the stairs, Danny right behind him. The whole kitchen went silent.

“What are you gonna do now, Charlie? Hit me back?” Lacey was furious.

“No—“ Charlie rubbed the side of his face, scowling at her.

“Want a baseball bat? Huh?” She teased him further, “C’mon—“ Lacey waved him toward her, “Hit me back.”

“I’m not going to hit you.”

Lacey giggled, “Oh, that’s right!” She slapped her forehead, “You’ll get someone else to do it!” 

Charlie looked up at Kyle, “You’re just going to stand there while she assaults me?”

“I didn’t see her do anything.” Kyle admitted.

Lacey got right in his face, something Danny was incredibly uncomfortable with. He wanted this to stop now. He tried to push Chief along faster down the stairs. Kyle kept his slower pace, knowing Danny would want to defend Lacey and end up getting himself in trouble.

“Lacey—“ Danny tried to intervene from the other end of the stairs, Kyle holding his hand up to stop him before he could say another word.

“What did you think would happen? That I’d come running for you or did you already know you’d never get me back and you just wanted to ruin any of the good that I’ve found?”

“He’s not good enough for you.” Charlie pointed up at Danny, not answering Lacey’s question.

“That’s not up to you.” Lacey seethed, “And if anything else happens to him, I promise you’ll regret it.” 

Danny was able to walk by Kyle now that he was distracted and shimmied his way in between Lacey and Charlie. He walked her backward away from him.

“Lacey, c’mon. He’s not worth your energy or your peace. Don’t let him take anything else from you.” Danny reasoned, unwilling to give up on protecting her from this scumbag.

Charlie hadn’t seen Danny’s injuries close up since the incident. Danny couldn’t tell if he was surprised by how brutal they were or if he was impressed. Danny didn’t care which, it was his turn to speak.

“How do I look?” Danny smiled.

“Like shit.” Charlie assessed happily.

Samuel reached out and held Danny still so he could inspect his battered face. He could not believe the extent of his injuries, he looked at Kyle in shock and anger that no one had protected this kid.

Danny looked at Kyle too, searching for reassurance, he found it and decided to just go for it. Charlie needed to be away from Lacey and this was how he could do it.

“Danny, we’d like your statement about what happened to you.” The state attorney interjected before they had to make more assault arrests tonight.

“If you’d like we can meet with you privately—“ Mr. Ogden tried, not wanting Danny to hang his son out like this in front of everyone.

“I left the studio early to walk home. Cole and Scott pulled up in the van, hopped out and started hitting me. Scott hit me with the bat—“ Danny found recalling what happened to be harder than he expected.

“Cole?” Kyle looked at them.

“It’s true.” Cole said, “Charlie asked us to beat him up, scare him. Threaten him. I hit him.”

“Scott?”

Scott’s father nudged his son like the little shit he was.

“Yeah, that’s what happened.”

“You can take them.” Kyle nodded to the attorneys and they led Scott and Cole back out to the cars.

“Thanks assholes!” Charlie shouted to his longtime friends, “You just wait!”

“We’ll add threatening to your list.” 

Kyle grabbed Charlie by the wrist and reached for his handcuffs, twisting his arm behind his back and slamming him onto the kitchen table in order to get him under control enough to crimp cuffs around his wrists.

“Ah!” Charlie gritted out as his face and chest slapped hard onto the table, “You’re fucking loving this.”

“Watch your mouth.” Kyle directed him calmly, pulling Charlie to his feet and guiding him out the kitchen door, “I’ll be late.” He shouted to his family as he stuffed Charlie into his cruiser. He gave Danny an appreciative nod and they all took off.

******

A month passed. Danny laid low, sticking to his job on the farm and completing several community service hours by harvesting and prepping the Masterson’s fresh produce for delivery to the local food bank.

Danny’s parents had returned Kyle’s call to check on their son but made no plans to come and visit him. His bruises faded, the two deep baseball bat wounds to his back taking the longest to resolve.

Charlie’s trial was quick. Thanks to Danny, Charlie was found guilty of all new charges and had proven that he had also violated his parole. He was sent back to prison for a total of twenty three years.

Scott and Cole were found guilty of their assault charges and, thanks to their plea deals, were sentenced to a combination of house arrest and probation. This time, Kyle made no offers to house the young men at his farm. 

Archie and Jo had been helping Tess with her pottery classes while Danny stayed out of the public eye. It was working for the most part, the citizens of Green Grove definitely held no judgment for Danny when it came to his assault and were largely happy that he had used his experience to help remove three troublemakers from their town.

Lacey had been a frequent visitor at the farm after Danny’s attack. The two of them making good on slowing things down, working on their friendship and getting to know each other better. Tess and Kyle had never found a single circumstance when Danny had lied to them so they trusted him when he promised them that nothing physical was happening.

“We’re already halfway through summer.” Lacey said regretfully.

Danny and Lacey were a solid half hour into one of their now daily walks around the farm’s rolling acreage. It was the part of his day that Danny looked forward to the most. They had learned so much about each other, trusted each other with some of the most painful parts of their lives and enjoyed the stories of all of the happy times as well.

“You getting nervous about going back to school?” Danny knew that wasn’t it, but he didn’t want to talk about what a shit-show he had made the fun summer Lacey had wanted.

“No, not really. I just—I want to do something fun!” Lacey hopped around next to him while they walked.

“You should!” Danny tried to be supportive.

“Dannnnyyyyy—“ Lacey wrapped both of her hands around Danny’s arm and shook him playfully while she whined.

“You shouldn’t be spending all of your time over here.” 

“Neither should you!” Lacey objected, “You need to stop hiding and have some fun!”

Danny sighed and continued walking. They made it to the edge of the unmaintained woods behind the farm. He followed Lacey in, taking the path they had walked several times before. 

Lacey slowed down near a large flat rock that they had passed a hundred times. She climbed up and helped Danny join her. The rock was nestled in the middle of three maple trees, the rock’s placement proving very helpful in late winter when the Masterson’s would tap for maple syrup.

“Do you ever think about how this happened?” Danny asked as he looked down at the peculiar rock.

“No, never.” Lacey giggled, “The trees just grew—“

“It’s like they’re hugging the rock, they’re friends.” Danny smiled.

“You’ve been on this farm too long.” Lacey laughed and brought her arms up around Danny’s neck.

Danny tipped his head back, wanting to keep her face in focus as they slow danced to no music. Lacey ignored his attempt at keeping her at arms length and went in for a kiss, one Danny accepted happily.

He held her waist, her jeans so tight he wondered how in the world she got them around the body he knew was underneath. He slid his hands around further and dropped them down to embrace her bottom, kneading softly, not wanting to move faster than the zero speed they had been at for the last month but also wanting her to know that he didn’t mind this at all.

“What was that for?” Danny asked gratefully as she pulled away.

“I need a reason?” 

“I guess not.”

Lacey dropped her arms and looked out into the woods.

“See that?” Lacey pointed to a small clearing on the other side of the path, “That’s the audience.”

“Audience?” Danny looked around and back at her for more clarification.

“Jo and I used to use this rock as a stage when we were little. We’d build little rock families over there and we’d pretend they came to see our show.” Lacey remembered fondly.

“What kind of show?”

“Well, from our perspective, we were singing and dancing—the best in the world!” Lacey giggled, “But the rocks, I’m sure they saw a sad sad comedy show.” 

Danny giggled then too, looking out and imagining all of the fun Lacey and Jo had growing up.

“I wish I could have seen that.” Danny nodded and looked down, “Archie was the closest thing I had to a brother. I just wish I had known him way back when I was little.” Danny admitted, wishing he could take back so much loneliness and fill it in with happy childhood memories.

“You’re here now.” Lacey took his hands into hers and pulled him against her, “So let’s dance.”

Lacey twirled herself around and fell into Danny’s arms, the two of them dancing for their imaginary audience. After a few moments Danny sang some stupid song that Lacey actually knew and she joined in. 

Once the song ended, Danny went in for their next kiss with want, need and thankfulness. Lacey smashed her face against his with the same energy, both of them no longer lost in the things they had been through or where they were headed. They were both just right here, right now.

Lacey went first, untying the string at Danny’s waist that held up the causal linen pants he had thrown on after feeding the animals that morning. Danny reciprocated and fiddled with the five buttons that dotted a line from Lacey’s belly button down to her perfect v.

Danny’s lips popped off of hers as they both worked to pull each other’s pants down.

“I thought we were taking it slow—“ Danny panted against her mouth.

“It’s been over a month, is that not slow?” Lacey panted back, hopping around as she tugged her skinny jeans off of her ankles.

“I don’t want to do this if—“

“Danny, I want to.” Lacey said as if she were telling him the sky was blue, “I want to.”

Danny nodded and lifted Lacey up, her legs instinctively wrapping around Danny’s waist as he pressed her roughly against the maple tree behind her. Lacey’s breath escaped her mouth in a rush, stunned at the sudden aggressive move by Danny and definitely not mad about it.

“Yes—“ She egged him on.

He was happy they were on the same page, reaching a hand down to pull himself out of his boxers, sliding Lacey’s thong to the side at the same time. Danny positioned himself at her entrance and then moved his hands to hold Lacey’s ass, leaning forward to penetrate her and smash her further into the tree for leverage.

“I love maple trees.” Danny huffed as he fucked her hard.

He worked his thrusts to both satisfy her and defy the gravity that weighed at their union. He could feel her level of need for him and after everything he had been through and everything that Lacey had done for him, Danny wanted to show her what she meant to him. He needed her to feel it.

“Oh my god—Danny keep going.” Lacey slopped fresh kisses against his lips and his neck.

He kept going, his legs burning, lower back tweaked a little. He rolled himself against her while keeping her pegged to the tree. His hands moved her hips for her, rutting her clit against him and making her moan and whimper as he worked her.

It felt good. Of course it felt good. Being intimate with Lacey again physically after weeks without her was one of the best feelings Danny had ever felt, but it was when Lacey brought her hands up to hold the tree behind her so she could tilt her hips back and hitch her legs even higher up Danny’s waist that was his undoing.

“I missed you.” Danny hummed into her neck, “God I fucking missed you—“

Lacey’s head flopped forward as Danny’s hips ground into her, both of them coming at the same moment. Danny kept her suspended as they came down from their high, tipping her chin up and kissing her lovingly.

“I missed you too.” She smiled in his face, relaxing her jelly legs and letting them thud to the ground, “You’re so strong.”

“I think we’ve gone ahead and traumatized the rock families.” Danny said sweetly and rested his forehead against hers.

“Are you kidding?” Lacey pulled away, eyes still heavily lidded, “Best performance yet.” She bit her lip and made Danny’s cheeks warm. 

Danny carefully slid out of her and leaned up off of Lacey’s body, only then realizing how hard he had pinned her in place. He rubbed her sides gently.

“Did I hurt you?” He whispered, his lips pulled up into a sweet smirk.

“No.” Lacey shook her head and smiled back.

They pulled themselves together and walked hand-in-hand back toward the house.

“Okay, I have an idea.” Danny began, even the sound of him telling her the beginning of his new thought sent excitement throughout his body, “For some fun.” He clarified further.

“I’m listening—“

“Camping.”

“Camping?” Lacey seemed open to it, “How?”

“Here. We can set up a camp somewhere, it’ll be on this property so I can stay all night and not have to bail before nine pm—“

“Just the two of us?”

“I’d never get away with that, but we’ll invite Archie, Jo and probably Rico.” Danny chuckled, “Maybe some of your friends, Regina, someone for Archie?” Danny raised his eyebrows.

“I could make that happen.” Lacey smiled big, her dimples always stunning him, “This weekend?”

“Cool.”

Danny was relieved she went for it. He had been working as much as possible, riding the line between banking community service hours and making the cash he needed for when summer ended. He hadn’t spent a dime since Regina’s party and camping seemed like the perfect way to have some fun, make some memories and also not spend any money.

“Can you please come back to pottery class Tuesday? It’s the last tea set class.” Lacey begged lightly, “We’re finally making the tea pot!”

“I don’t know, I’m nervous to go into town. Also, your mom’s not my biggest fan.”

“My mom had no idea what you were going through the last time she saw you, she was just protecting me. Please don’t give up? Not yet.”

Don’t give up. That was the same advice Tess had given him that awful night too. It was a good sign that all of the women in his life currently all seemed to have his back. He decided to keep listening to them.

“Okay. I’ll volunteer for the next class.” 

“Thank you.” Lacey leaned into him and bumped their shoulders together gently.

“Happy?” He checked in with her, wanting desperately to turn this summer around for her, likely their first, last and only one together before life took them elsewhere.

“Happy.”


	16. Chapter 16

The camping idea took some convincing.

Thankfully, Archie and Jo were on board and helped to ease the Masterson’s minds about all of the things that could go wrong.

The three of them summed up their proposal and pitched it as just a group kids that the Masterson’s had known for their whole lives getting together to basically sleep outside for the weekend.

Once they got the green light, Danny, Archie and Jo gathered wood for their fire pit, loaded up Tess’ pickup truck and drove all of the supplies they were contributing out to the northern part of the Masterson’s property to set up.

“Can they see us from the house?” Danny asked as they made it to the place Jo had in mind.

“Not from down there.” Jo pointed to the other side of the small incline, an area just out of site from the house with spectacular views of the sky.

They had two tents that Jo got to work pitching and a small folding table to hold plates and other supplies. Archie had loaded up several bricks and worked to make their fire pit while Danny unloaded the wood.

“What is everyone bringing?” Archie wondered as he looked around at their meager site.

Danny had insisted on BYOE (bring your own EVERYTHING) and asked his guests to bring basic food and shelter plus anything they could spare to share so that the least amount of money was spent.

“Yeah, who’s coming anyway?” Jo added.

“Lacey.” Danny smiled.

“Jesus.” Jo laughed and rolled her eyes.

“Oh, I didn’t mean—well, I didn’t mean it like that.” Danny got the giggles then, “She’s bringing blankets and s’mores stuff—“

“All the necessities really.” Archie noted.

“Lacey invited Regina, Sarita—“ Danny ticked off his fingers, “and Tyler.”

“Lovely.” Jo muttered.

“Rico’s coming, right?” Danny ignored Jo’s grumbling and hoped for the best.

“Yep.”

“I think Regina and Tyler said they were bringing tents. Sarita’s handling breakfast, Tyler’s bringing lunch stuff, I volunteered us for dinner and then Regina said she would do drinks and—“

“Rico’s got snacks, yes.” Jo decided to speed this up.

“Jo, we’re gonna have fun.” Danny tried to ease her irritation.

“So that’s four tents then?” Archie added them up, “And eight of us.”

“I’m still in awe you didn’t graduate early.” Jo snarked and tethered the last of the rope to the ground.

“Does Jo have to be here? She’s so mean.” Archie whined.

“Dude, don’t insult her until after she’s done setting up the tents!” Danny joked.

“You know, don’t make me tear this shit back down because I will—“ Jo smiled at the closest thing she had to two brothers.

Rico was the first to arrive. Jo drove her mom’s truck down to the house and shuttled him and his supplies up to their campsite.

“W-where should I put my sleeping bag?” Rico asked with a bit of shyness.

“Where are you sleeping, Jo?” Danny answered Rico’s question with a question of his own, slapping Rico on the back and ignoring how painfully uncomfortable he looked.

“Someone else is here—“ Archie squinted down at the house, “It’s a mustang?” He spun around and looked at Jo for further details.

“Tyler.” Jo and Rico said at the same time with two very different emotions attached.

Danny and Archie just traded side eyes and continued helping Rico unload his snacks.

“I’ll go get him.” Jo slipped into the truck and off she went.

“Dude, they’re just friends.” Danny tried.

“I don’t stand a chance, unlike you guys, if Tyler ever decides he’d like something more from her I’ll be gone.”

“So you’re just going to settle for that?” Archie winced at him, “You’re a cool dude, man. Have a little more confidence.”

Jo rambled back up to the site with Tyler, a box of food and the tiniest tent any of them had ever seen.

“What? It’s a backpacking tent. It’s made for one person—“ Tyler defended and continued popping up the miniature dome.

“See? Your tent’s bigger—“ Danny said jokingly to Rico when no one was listening.

“What is this?” Archie tried to figure out the lunch supplies Tyler had brought.

“Peanut butter, jelly and bread man. It’s not that hard.” Tyler said before lighting up a cigarette.

“WOOO!!”

The group heard Regina before they could see her, the crew turning to see Regina and Sarita unloading a huge cooler and a huge aluminum bucket from Regina’s car.

“I’m on it—“ Jo jumped into the truck and took off again.

“Chief gonna be all over us tonight or what?” Tyler asked Danny and Archie while giving Rico a fist bump neither of them wanted.

“I’m sure he’ll be up to tuck us in.” Archie admitted.

Jo returned, Regina standing up in the back of the truck like she had all nine lives left to lose. Danny helped her down while Archie opened the passenger door for Sarita.

“Ooo, what did you bring?!” Tyler flipped the lid on the huge cooler revealing water and sodas, “Y’all are wild.” He said with disappointment and closed it again.

“Sorry man, Chief said no fun this weekend.” Danny revealed.

“Nah, it’s cool. This is a sweet spot and I love fire so I’m happy.” Tyler smiled and winked at Jo, “I brought my guitar too, maybe I’ll play us some songs later.”

“That’s great.” Rico mumbled.

“Where’s your girl, D?” Archie asked his best friend.

“Lacey’s not my girl—“

“Yeah, OK.”

“Oh! Lacey is on her way.” Regina interjected, “She texted me something about not having enough marshmallows. I was supposed to tell you phoneless people.”

“Thanks.” Danny smiled at her and went around to the back of the truck to grab the tent the girls brought, “What is this?” He asked curiously as he came upon the giant aluminum bucket.

“What does it look like?” Regina was obviously excited by the contents Danny was looking at.

“Water balloons?” He held one up and shook it, it was frozen solid, “Or, ice balloons?”

“Yes sir! It took two hours for Sarita and I to fill them all.” Regina said proudly, “Some have ice inside.”

“Hell yeah, we’re gonna need teams and shit—“ Tyler was psyched, not having heard the ice part.

“Why do some have ice?” Danny looked at her like she was insane.

“Just put them under the table for now, they’re for later. Nobody touches them, understand?!” Regina threatened them all.

Danny slung the bucket under the table and held his hands up innocently.

“Oh shit, I spy a bad bitch incoming.” Regina smiled as she spotted Lacey’s silver car turn up the Masterson’s driveway.

“I’ll go get her.” Jo said and took off in her mom’s truck to round up their last guest.

“Yo, you and Porter finally together?” Tyler asked as he lit up a cigarette, “Every time I text her she’s been with you.”

“I’m not worried about labeling this.” Danny tried to keep it simple.

“So she said no.” Tyler gave a husky giggle, “Fuck, that’s the worst.”

Danny wanted to try and get closer to Lacey’s friends. They were all the same age and if Lacey saw something worth investing her time in with these people then he wanted to make an effort to get to know them too. Still, Tyler just seemed like he had the potential to be the biggest asshole.

“We’re cool, just having some fun.” Danny admitted.

“I get it, Lacey and her crew are the bad girls—“

“Says you.” Sarita huffed, “We just keep things in perspective.”

The bad girls? Danny ignored them as the truck rolled up with more visitors than anticipated. Tess was driving with Chief in the passenger seat and the girls in the back.

“Sorry I’m late.” Lacey hopped out of the back of the truck and held up a bag, “Needed more marshmallows.”

Lacey added her bag to the table and then mounted Danny from behind for a piggyback ride. Danny held on tight.

“Hi.” She sang into his ear.

“Hi.” Danny smiled, turning his head around as far as he could, he still couldn’t see her.

Lacey kissed the side of his head and slid her arms further around his neck, basically laying her top half on his shoulders, happily kicking her feet. Danny loved her positive energy.

“Gather ‘round please.” Kyle said, sounding less like a cop and more like just a dad, “Just a quick rundown of the rules. No drinking, no drugs and I’m expecting you all to respect that you’re on my property. Fire needs to be out before you go to sleep. Bathroom is open any time. If you have to leave, I’d like you each to check into the house and let Tess or myself know. There’s to be no leaving and coming back. Deal?”

The group agreed as enthusiastically as eight eighteen year olds could.

“Good. I’m searching bags.” Kyle added lovingly which earned lots of eye rolls.

Kyle dipped his head inside the tents that were up, ran his hands through some of the bags and made his way over to the food table.

“What’s in here?” Kyle said as he approached the drink cooler assuming he had just found their stash.

He popped it open to find the water and soda and closed it again. He rifled through their food bags and nodded to himself in approval before spying the tub of water balloons.

“What’s this?” Kyle slid the bucket out from under the table.

“Water balloons!” Regina grabbed one, handing it to Chief, “They’re frozen though, my mom used the bucket to hold the walk-in freezer door open when she brought in the groceries and then she kicked it inside instead of out when she was done.” Regina explained, “Gotta wait until they thaw out, but then IT’S ON!” She squealed, took the frozen balloon back from Chief, tossed it in the bucket and slid it back under the table.

Kyle shook his head, “Have fun guys.”

Kyle handed Jo a cooler filled with a huge burrito dinner they had prepared before he and Tess hopped back in the truck.

Lacey slid off of Danny’s back and immediately stuck her arms around his waist in a tight reverse hug.

“Are you going to call their PO to set up a test?” Tess wondered, watching Danny and Lacey interact as they turned the truck around.

“They haven’t lied to me once. I’m gonna let them have this one.” Kyle said, deciding that Archie and Danny had earned this break.

“Come on, your turn.” Lacey danced away from Danny, sporting black leggings and a cropped black hoodie, how had he not noticed her outfit before?

“My turn?”

“Yeah, come on—“ Lacey spun around and waited for Danny to climb aboard for his own ride.

Danny did as he was told and jumped up on Lacey’s back, her taking the opportunity to spin him around in a few circles before falling over and the two of them becoming a tangled mess of arms and legs in the grass.

Danny and Lacey had been inseparable from the moment she had arrived. They took a walk together, practiced cartwheels and handstands, defended each other in a short two on two game of soccer and fucked around lighting the fire to get dinner going.

Danny had prepared wood and kindling for two nights of fire pit action. He reserved a small amount to cook dinner and also had two big piles ready for more of a late night bon fire after the sun set.

“You just throw them in the fire?” Sarita squinted at Jo’s cooking abilities, watching as she plopped several foil-wrapped burritos directly into the flames.

“Yep.” Jo responded dryly.

After dinner the group continued with their general nonsense, taking pics and playing games until Lacey decided it was time for dessert.

“I’ve never had s’mores before.” Danny admitted to all within earshot.

“How are you like this?” Archie shook his head, “Didn’t your parents make you go camping?”

“We never went anywhere.” Danny added, watching as Lacey prepared him a perfect s’more, “It’s okay though, I like learning new things from this one.”

Lacey winked and handed him the messy treat. Danny took a big bite and managed the overflow of gooey marshmallow.

“How are these a camping classic?” Danny grimaced, supremely disappointed, “It’s uh, yeah, no.” He tossed the rest of it in the fire.

“You don’t like my cooking?!” Lacey teased.

Danny worked to get the obnoxious marshmallow off of his hands and face while everyone around him built their own.

“Too bad the water balloons don’t glow in the dark, ice or no ice, I’d love to smash you all in the face with them.” Jo said plainly, Danny thought she was a little scary sometimes if he was honest.

“Girl, they’re not water balloons.” Regina laughed, “You think I’d come on some lame ass camping trip without real refreshments?”

“I am offended.” Danny grabbed his chest, pretending to be hurt.

Regina pulled the bucket out from under the table and held up one of the balloons, “The ones with ice inside are just keeping the other ones cold.”

“What’s inside the other ones?!” Tyler shot to his feet and almost ran over to her.

“My homemade sangria.” Regina smiled smugly.

Archie and Danny tossed each other a glance, this wasn’t good.

“I love when you’re in charge of the drinks.” Sarita saddled up and chose a balloon.

“It was Danny’s idea.” Regina winked at Danny and flashed him a huge smile.

Archie and Lacey turned and stared at Danny who held his hands up, “I didn’t suggest this—“

“Well, you put me in charge of drinks—“

“Guys—“ Danny exhaled sharply as Sarita and Tyler bit a tiny hole in their balloons and shotgunned them.

“What’s the problem?” Regina looked at Danny quizzically, “Lacey said you wanted to have some fun.”

Lacey licked her lips, dying to join in. She pulled Danny away from her friends, intent on pleading her case. Danny was a little surprised but he could see what she wanted all over her face.

“Listen, I know we’ve gotten to know each other a lot over the last few weeks, but I’m really not like this perfect person—I mean, I’m not. At all.”

“This is your argument?”

“Come on, Danny, Mr. Masterson isn’t going to be back tonight, have some fun—“

Danny’s peripheral vision picked up on Archie shooting one of the balloons too.

“What the fuck?” Danny hushed out to him and pulled him over to the side.

“Dude, the presentation is brilliant. You gotta give her that.” Archie smiled, “There’s like two hundred balloons. C’mon man, have a couple.”

“Oh my god, it’s like déjà vu.” Danny thought back to the night of the party as he walked away to join Rico who was laying down and looking up at the moon, the sky still a little too bright to see all of the stars.

“Welcome.” Rico greeted him, “What nonsense are they up to over there, is it water balloon time?” Rico lifted his head to see better.

“It is actually.”

Rico hopped up and jogged over toward the cooler, Danny trailing slowly behind him.

“How am I the only one who didn’t figure out what was in the balloons?” Danny wondered to himself.

“Because you’re the sweetest guy ever.” Jo tried not to sound condescending as she met him with a handful of balloons.

“I’m not at this level of partying. I wanted soccer balls and a bonfire.” Danny closed his eyes, “I think she’s bored.” He opened them in time to watch Lacey begin drinking.

“Lacey likes you and your lame ass camping trip. Go have some drinks and be your age.”

“If I get caught—“ Danny began to object.

“We’ll protect you, okay? We’ll see them coming and we’ll tell them you’re already asleep. My dad’s not coming back tonight, just fucking relax.”

“Is Lacey, I mean, are her and her friends really like—“

“The trouble makers? Yes, sir.” Jo confirmed as she watched Danny stare at Lacey, “She dated the man that was just sentenced to like twenty plus years in prison. He was a drug dealer, but so was Lacey—“

“Whoa whoa whoa, what?”

“Everyone knows that if you need something you go see Charlie and Lacey.”

Danny was frustrated that normal things had the potential to be so life changing for him. He knew he had to stay focused and just get through these next few weeks but he was tired. Now Lacey was a drug dealer?

“I’ll get you a couple, okay? Jesus just chill, I’m begging you.” Jo finished her last balloon and walked back over to the bucket.

“You loosening that man up?” Regina asked Jo.

“You’d be worried too if getting caught meant going to jail. Give him a minute.”

Jo turned around with an armful of balloons, giving Rico a look as he squirted at least his fourth one into his mouth and inched himself closer and closer to Sarita.

“What’s up?” Danny knew Jo’s mind was somewhere else.

“I think Rico and I are done.” She said softly.

Danny took one of the balloons from Jo and rolled it back and forth between his hands.

“He thinks you want Tyler.” Everyone already knew.

“I do want Tyler.”

“Then why are you still with Rico? “

“Rico’s fragile. He once said I was his dream girl, I just—“

“—feel like his happiness is up to you.” Danny understood that.

“I don’t want to hurt him. I don’t know if he’ll be okay, I don’t want to lose him in my life.” Jo sucked down another one.

“Don’t get mad at me, but were the feelings ever there?”

“Things weren’t happening for me with anyone else and I was lonely too so I decided to try it with him. It sucks because he’s my best friend. Now I don’t have anyone to talk to about it because it would’ve been him—“

“Jo you’re definitely my friend. You can talk to me any time.”

“Thanks.”

Danny finally pierced the balloon with his teeth and sucked about half of it down. It was good, dangerously good. He sucked down the rest and grabbed a second one from Jo.

“You’re an awful influence.” Danny giggled and shotgunned the second one.

Tyler and Archie tag-teamed the bucket over to where Jo and Danny had cozied in beside their dwindling dinner fire. They set the bucket in the middle and they all sat around it in a circle.

“So, in summary, somehow I connected with the bad girls.” Danny said with intrigue as he inspected the contents of more of the colorful balloons with his mouth.

“Somehow.” Regina emphasized with air quotes, “That’s how all of these programs and punishments work. The not-so-straight-laced get connected with other people that have fallen from grace and we just end up making new friends to make mistakes with.”

“It’s like reverse summer camp. We’re definitely not girl scouts.” Sarita added.

Danny looked across the circle at Lacey who smiled back at him, having no idea that Jo had just outed her as a drug dealer. He had so many questions.

His face must have said it all because the smile dropped from Lacey’s face. She ticked her head to the side, silently asking Danny what was up.

“Walk?” Danny asked her as he gathered up a few more balloons.

Lacey grabbed more too and followed him away from their newly buzzed group.

“You two behave now—“ Regina sloshed out after them.

“What’s up?” Lacey knew Danny’s mind was currently moving a mile a minute.

“Exactly what kind of a bad girl did I fall for?”

“Danny we were joking. We got caught smoking in the bathroom—“ Lacey laughed.

Danny nodded and looked down, “So, you’re not a drug dealer.” He said it as if she had just confirmed she wasn’t and yet, here he was, waiting for her to actually say the words.

“Where’d you hear that? From trusty Masterson?” Lacey shook her head, “She thinks she knows everything—“

“How about you tell me the truth then, I’d like to know.”

“I’m not a drug dealer.”

“Were you?”

“Charlie sold drugs and people may have been comfortable coming up to me if he wasn’t around to ask for stuff.”

“What happened the night that guy died? How involved were you guys?”

“Why are we doing this right now?”

“I just want to understand.”

“We went to a party with some friends from another school. Charlie sold this guy heroin and the guy shot it up and died. I guess he had already snorted some coke and he didn’t say anything about that to Charlie. There was nothing wrong with the heroin. I was there but I didn’t deal anything.”

“Charlie threw someone else under the bus for it?”

“One of his friends confessed to being the dealer. I honestly don’t know why. I just happened to be at the party, I didn’t do anything.”

“You don’t sell anything now?”

“Why you need something?” Lacey tried to get him to smile, it didn’t work, “I’m joking. No, I don’t sell.”

“I’m just, I’m overwhelmed.”

“Danny I’ve made mistakes and I don’t try to hide them, but I’ve moved on. The person you’ve been getting to know is the same person standing right here.”

“I’m not Charlie, I’m so far from that—since I arrived I’ve wanted this summer to be over, for all of this to be done, but then I met you and now all I can think about is trying to slow it down. I guess I’m just worried that we’re too different.”

“We are too different. That’s what works.”

“You’re going to get bored. You are bored.” Danny threw a hand up in defeat.

“Listen,” Lacey got in his face and bopped her chest into his, “I’m not Whitney, I like dick, yours in particular.” Danny finally laughed, “I haven’t even been close to bored with you. I don’t live in the past and I don’t focus my feelings too much on the future. It’s now with me. Where are you?”

Danny thought about her explanation a bit before responding as they walked back to the group, “Yeah, I’m here.”

“MASTERSON.” Regina stood and pulled her shirt off, revealing a stunning royal blue sports bra.

“Uh, yeah?” Jo giggled at buzzed Regina’s classic antics.

“You still have that swimming hole?”

Regina yanked her shorts off and set off walking toward where she last recalled cannonballing into the river that ran along the edge of the Masterson’s farm as a kid.

“Oh shit—“ Archie said as he pulled off his own shirt and followed after her.

“W-Wait, w-what’s happening?” Rico looked around in disbelief as Tyler pulled off his shirt and revealed his muscular upper body.

Lacey was beaming and looked over at Danny with raised eyebrows in challenge as she pulled her top off too. She was wearing a black bra, Danny had trouble taking his eyes off of her.

“Seriously? We’re doing this?” Rico tried to get someone else to feel his outrage.

Jo was no help and shucked her usual sad cardigan off to reveal a basic white bra in a surprisingly flattering cut.

“You don’t have to come.” Jo shrugged and walked away from him without another thought.

“C’mon Danny—“ Lacey pulled up the bottom of his shirt, “Let’s get this off of you.”

Danny let her pull his shirt off, the two eying each other like they had never been at this stage before. Damn, it was always butterflies and electricity for both of them.

“This seems like a bad decision.” Danny smirked.

Lacey pulled her leggings off and tossed them aside to join the other scattered clothing dotting the area around them. Danny surveyed her matching black thong and just about lost his mind.

“Oh it is.” Lacey confirmed and gave him a wicked smile.

Danny allowed Lacey to remove his own pants so he matched the other guys who had all stripped down to their boxers by this point, all of them except for Rico of course. Lacey took Danny’s hand and dragged him along behind her toward the river.

“Danny—“ Rico tried to reason with him.

“Dude, we’re just swimming. You don’t have to come, it’s cool. Do you man.”

Jo hadn’t waited for Rico, trailing after Tyler and leaving her actual boyfriend feeling burdensome and inadequate. A typical night for him.

Temporarily salved by Danny’s kindness, Rico reluctantly dragged himself along behind him and Lacey en route to the swimming hole, fully clothed and trying his best not to bitch for the entire trek out there.

“Woo!” Tyler shouted as he ran and jumped off the ledge above the river.

Regina jumped next followed closely by Archie. Jo and Lacey had expertly scaled a large tree stump that they had obviously climbed before. Jo jumped up and pulled down a rope swing, both of them tugging on it to see if the well loved branch would still hold.

“Jo—“ Rico hopelessly tried again to wrangle the first girl he ever loved, knowing how buzzed she was. He was terrified this wouldn’t end well.

“You know what—“ Jo handed Lacey the rope and stomped down into Rico’s space, “We want different things, I get it. So do your thing and I’ll do mine.”

Jo’s irritation softened toward the end of her statement in an effort to not completely crush this guy she considered her best friend. Rico nodded softly in understanding and crossed her arms around his body.

“I’m gonna go. Please be careful.” Rico said, his eyes cast down and never lifting to connect with her again before he left.

Lacey helped Jo back up onto the stump and Danny watched Lacey swing out and drop into the river.

“Jesus he’s such a killjoy.” Jo shook her head at Danny, reaching to grab the rope as it swing back, “You in?”

“Sure, yeah.” Danny climbed up and took the rope from Jo, his eyes scanning his friends laughing and splashing below, “You okay?” He knew breakups weren’t fun no matter the circumstances.

“It had to be done.” Jo defended, “Now go, I’d like a turn.”

The group had begun climbing out of the river to try the rope themselves as Danny ran and swung out over the river. They watched as he let go and pierced through the rushing water like a knife.

The water was cold. Danny liked that, thinking it would help sober these guys up and hopefully reduce the drunken injuries he knew they’d probably all end up with.

As his body stopped its momentum downward, Danny began swimming back up. He realized that his feet never touched anything and estimated he was a good ten to fifteen feet down.

Danny was mad at himself for not stopping himself from going so far down when he hadn’t know the depth of the swimming hole. As he continued to swim up, he realized he wasn’t making a lot of progress, the pressure of the current below and the current above had trapped him in place.

He panicked for a moment before he stopped trying to swim up and just let the river take him along downstream for a small stretch before trying again. Danny made it to the surface much easier the second time and burst through for some much needed air.

“Dude, you okay?” Danny heard Archie shout from the shoreline upstream.

Danny couldn’t answer yet and just worked to get himself up onto the edge so he could get out and walk back to them. He watched Regina squeal and take her turn with the rope, Danny’s eyes not leaving the spot where she disappeared until he saw her pop up again.

“What happened?” Lacey greeted him quizzically.

“The currents are strong, you guys need to be so careful—“ Danny emphasized as he ran his hands through his hair.

“Don’t turn into Rico on me.” Jo grumbled.

Regina climbed out of the freezing river and bounced back toward the rope swing, her eyes soaking in Danny’s wet body and now skin-tight boxer briefs. She had known nothing of his tattoos and just watched him with great jealousy as he interacted with Lacey. She still wanted him.

“Yeah where did Rico go?” Tyler asked and looked around.

“I broke up with him, he went home.” Jo shrugged and took off with the rope.

Tyler couldn’t hide his smile and jumped in next, finding Jo and kissing her before happily pulling her up onto his shoulders and dunking her.

Danny stayed playing around by himself at the water’s edge. He hadn’t told the rest of them how close he had just come to drowning. Maybe it was the alcohol, but he didn’t want to be the one who shut this down.

He helped his friends onto the edge after each swing they took into the river. He couldn’t stop his anxiety as each of them disappeared one by one under the surface.

“You’re not going back in?” Lacey wondered as Danny helped her up out of the water.

“No.” Danny said simply and watched her climb back up onto the stump.

“Well it’s too dark now anyway, everyone’s ready to get warm by the bonfire so this is my last jump, okay?”

Danny smiled and nodded, watching her cannon ball off the rope and into the river as everyone else shook themselves off. He was distracted for a few as Regina commented on his back tattoos, head turning to address her briefly before returning his attention to the river.

How long ago had Lacey jumped in?


	17. Chapter 17

“Shit, where is she?” Danny hushed out to himself in pure fear. When she still hadn’t resurfaced, his heart rate skyrocketed, “Lacey!” He shouted, gaining everyone’s attention at this point.

“Did she jump back in?” Tyler spun around in confusion looking for her too.

“Oh my god, Lacey?!” Regina shouted, the panic in her voice causing everyone to either head back into the water to search or go into total shock.

It was dark now, too dark. The full moon helped a little, but the canopy of trees filtered it just enough to suddenly make it seem like finding Lacey would be an impossible task.

Danny scrambled up onto the stump and ran and jumped into the water thinking he could at least get himself near the same place and down to the same depth as Lacey to see if he could find her. He propelled himself slightly down stream from where he saw her go in.

Everyone’s clothes, including all of their cell phones were all scattered back at the campsite. No one thought to run and find one to call Chief Masterson or 9-1-1 to get an ambulance here if they needed one. That’s something Rico would have definitely had covered for them.

Jo, Archie and Tyler were all in the water, bobbing up and back down looking for her. Regina and Sarita clung to each other on the shore in horror as they watched.

Danny hadn’t resurfaced after he had jumped in and now everyone was fully freaking out. It had been too long for Danny to be under and this thought made them all realize that Lacey had been under for at least a minute even longer than that.

“D!” Archie screamed, “Fuck, where are you guys?!”

“Is that them?!” Regina could hear splashing downstream and saw the outline of limbs shimmering from where she stood, “There they are!” Regina screamed as she saw Danny and Lacey finally emerge, both of them gasping for air, “Holy shit they’re okay—“

Archie spun around and did a quick head count for Jo and Tyler before releasing his breath and thanking god he was seeing his best friend and Lacey above water and seemingly breathing.

They all headed toward them, watching as Danny helped an obviously exhausted Lacey to the shoreline and boosting her up out of the water.

Danny climbed up the steep embankment like a skilled gymnast to join her and helped her up further.

“Ohmygodohmygod—“ Regina sputtered when she reached Lacey, “Are you okay?” Her voice cracked, tears flowing in a mix of tentative relief and fear that maybe she wasn’t out of the woods yet.

Lacey didn’t respond, her eyes were closed and her chest was heaving, water still pouring out of her nose. 

Danny tried to get his own breathing under control, taking deeper breaths and holding them gently to calm his racing heart. He placed a hand on Lacey’s chest as she lay there and tried to get her to focus on the same breathing pattern as his. 

It worked. After a few long minutes Lacey opened her eyes and strained to see the faces of the friends around her.

“You’re freezing, we need to get you by the fire—“ Danny helped Lacey to her feet, the group deciding to run ahead to work on igniting their huge bonfire as fast as possible.

Lacey took a few steps and then dropped to her knees suddenly to puke over the edge of the embankment. Danny stayed right beside her, holding her wet hair out of the way and rubbing her back.

Once she stopped heaving, Lacey turned and rested herself in Danny’s arms.

“I almost gave up—“ Lacey’s breathing was all over the place again, “but I didn’t want to.” She squeezed him as tight as her spent muscles could, “And then you were just there. You saved my life.” She was crying.

Danny held onto her, their freezing skin pressed against each other doing nothing to help keep them warm, but they needed a minute.

“I would do anything for you.” Danny admitted.

Lacey began shaking and Danny scraped her off the ground again, helping her walk toward the fire they could now see beginning to rise in the distance.

“You know, you did say you wanted to have fun though and honestly, the s’mores, the drowning, so far this camping trip has sucked.” He said calmly with no energy left to laugh.

“The s’mores were delicious asshole.” Lacey joked back quietly. Danny took that as a good sign.

The girls pulled out sweat pants and a hoodie for Lacey and Jo was ready to wrap her up with a blanket. They helped her get dressed and then sat around the fire as closely as possible. 

They had all just gone through the worst thing imaginable and they needed this closeness while they each processed what happened in their own way.

Danny sat closest to Lacey, Jo having wrapped her giant blanket around the two of them once they were settled next to each other. Danny noticed she was still shivering after about ten minutes of thawing out. She wasn’t warming up.

“We need to get you inside, take a hot shower, something.” Danny said gently, not wanting to disclose how scared he was that she wasn’t exactly recovering even though she seemed to be alive.

Lacey stood when prompted but she wasn’t talking. He announced that they were headed to the bathroom and had Archie and Tyler hoist her up onto his back for the long walk over to the house. Regina threaded Lacey’s overnight bag into his fist.

It was just before 10 pm when Danny walked through the kitchen door with Lacey. Tess was still up and puttering around the kitchen making tea.

“Hey you two! How’s it going up there? Having a good time?” Tess asked before really connecting with their faces, “Oh my gosh, what’s wrong?!” She whispered out in panic.

“I need your help. We went swimming and Lacey was in the water for too long, she’s not warming up.” Danny decided to leave out the part about them both almost drowning.

“Oh honey, look at you you’re shivering. Okay, let’s get you into the bathtub. Danny can you keep making the tea? She’ll need that too.”

Danny was thankful he had a job to focus on while Tess brought Lacey into the bathroom.

“Danny saved my life.” Lacey said randomly, unable to control her shivering chin.

“Were you out at the rope swing?” Tess ignored her obvious reduced functioning and focused on filling the tub with hot water. She needed to get Lacey warmed up right now, “Here, take the sweats off and get in.”

Lacey left her still wet bra and panties on and climbed into the tub. She couldn’t even feel the temperature difference of the water but it made her shiver a bit more.

“It’s cold?” Lacey asked in confusion.

“It’s hot, I promise. Give it a minute, okay?”

Tess came out to check on the tea only to find Danny not much warmer than Lacey.

“What happened?” Tess took over and poured the boiling water into three mugs.

“The currents were strong. Her and I—we’re exhausted.”

Tess tried not to imagine what that meant, “Is everyone out of the water now?”

“Yes, they’re warming up at the bonfire.” Danny involuntarily shivered then too. 

“Let’s go.” Tess grabbed Danny’s arm and pulled him into the bathroom, “Sit here.” 

Tess pulled up a kitchen chair to the edge of the tub and made Danny sit and stick his feet in near Lacey’s. She left and returned with two cups of super hot tea for them to sip.

“I’m closing this door to keep the steam in, I’ll be back in twenty minutes.”

“I feel like such an idiot, or like a baby—I’m an idiot baby.” Lacey surmised after a few healthy sips of the tea.

“So you like posh camping with bathtubs and butlers who fetch you tea, so what?” Danny smiled at her, trying to keep her mind off of nearly dying.

“I almost died.” Lacey stated vacantly at their feet.

“But you didn’t. It wasn’t your time, or mine.”

Tess returned, drained the now lukewarm tub and filled it up again with hot water before leaving them for another twenty minute stretch.

“I feel so much better.” Lacey nodded to herself, “Thanks for taking care of me Danny.”

Danny’s eyes lingered on her face, soaking in her brighter disposition and basically the lower amount of death she was exuding. He couldn’t help the ache in his chest as he thought about how she looked when he first pulled her out of the river.

Lacey had been exactly where he had expected to find her, pinned in place about ten feet below the surface, sandwiched in between the two very strong currents. 

Danny had grabbed ahold of some part of her and refused to let go, pulling them along downstream until he was able to breach the surface again. Hearing Lacey gasp for air along with him at that moment had changed him.

He no longer wanted to carefully measure a single thing. Danny realized that time was limited and the end could be now. Sure, he wasn’t looking to go back to jail or intentionally break the law, but his days of thinking and planning his every move were over.

“How are you feeling?” Tess poked her head in.

“Fine, better. Thanks, Tess.” Lacey smiled.

“I think you should skip the swimming out there. I’ve heard the currents are strong too with all the rain we’ve had.”

Danny and Lacey just stared at each other, Danny breaking only to exit so Lacey could get dressed. 

“I’ll take care of feeding the animals in the morning, you two rest. Take care of each other, okay?” Tess offered.

“Thanks, we will.” Danny agreed.

They walked back toward their campsite hand-in-hand to rejoin their friends. 

“Fire’s dying.” Danny said, a little disappointed.

“That’s okay, I’m tired anyway.”

“Me too.” Danny didn’t want to assume they’d sleep in the same tent together, but he hoped that would be the case.

“Which tent is yours?” Lacey asked, always on the same page as him somehow.

Danny felt the familiar butterflies and wondered if it would always feel like this with her.

“The one on the end, closest to the fire.”

“Looks big enough for two.”

Danny stopped them in the middle of the Masterson’s pitch black field. He brought their intertwined hands up to his lips and kissed the back of hers, their eyes adjusting just enough to the dark to see each other twinkling under the moonlight.

“Sleep in my tent?”

“Yes please.” Lacey smiled, something that Danny thought he might never see again.

“I almost lost you today.” He pulled her in for an extra tight hug, “I need you to know that you’re always invited.” Danny kissed the side of her head, “You never have to ask. I want to see you—“ He kissed her forehead, “I want you there. Any time, any where.”

“Was that a poem?” Lacey giggled.

“Fuck off.” Danny smiled.

“It rhymed and everything.” Lacey laughed louder.

They continued walking and neared the campground. As the fire lit them up the group erupted in cheers and ran for them. Regina, Jo and Archie were crying, Sarita was actually smiling and Tyler was stoned out of his mind and dancing around the outside of their celebration.

“Oh my god, Lace, we were so worried! Did you have an out of body experience?! What was it like?!” Regina wondered.

“You saw flames, right? I bet it was flames.” Tyler laughed to himself.

“Dude.” Archie wiped his tears and scowled at Tyler.

Once they settled down they resumed talking around the fire. Danny and Archie really got into a lot of stories about the city, Jo and Lacey did the same about their early years together and Tyler, Regina and Sarita added in a few stories of their own along the way.

“Guys, I’ve gotta go to bed.” Lacey finally decided and struggled up off of the ground.

“I set your stuff up in our tent.” Regina said proudly.

“I’m staying with Danny in that one.” Lacey corrected definitively and Danny quickly ducked inside to help Lacey pull her stuff back out.

“I thought we were staying together?” Archie looked at Danny quizzically.

“I’m staying with Lacey. The rest of you will have to figure it out.” And with that Danny took Lacey’s hand, guided her inside and zipped them in.

In the end, Tyler and Jo bunked together, Regina and Sarita were in the third tent and Archie was stuck with Tyler’s single, tiny backpacking tent by himself.

******

“Hi.” Lacey said excitedly the second Danny’s eyes fluttered open the next morning.

“You’re just watching me sleep?” Danny asked with his gravelly morning voice.

“Yep.” 

“So creepy.” He pulled his sleeping bag up to cover him further, only a tiny portion of his face now peeking out.

They lay there for a long while just staring at each other and listening to the very happy little birds chirping somewhere right outside their tent. They were both deeply appreciative of this morning, alive and together. It was lovely.

They had each slept in their respective sleeping bags with several extra blankets on top of them, cozy, warm and safe. The ground was hard but it was still the best night of sleep that they had ever had.

“Think we can both fit in your sleeping bag?” Lacey finally asked, full mischievousness now painting her beautiful face.

“Uh, probably—“ 

Danny squinted and watched Lacey wrestle herself out of her own blankets and pull off all of her clothes before trying to shimmy into Danny’s sleeping bag.

“No clothes?” Danny asked, not that he was complaining.

“So I take up less space, duh! Here just—“ Lacey squirmed her way further inside.

“Oh god, why are we trying this?” Danny sucked in and tried to keep his arms out of the way.

Once Lacey was snuggled inside with him, then he knew why. They wrapped their arms around each other, Danny’s morning situation behaving badly between them.

“This sleeping bag is lumpy.” Lacey whispered as she planted a sweet kiss on Danny’s cheek. 

Danny rolled his hips a little, “It is, isn’t it?” Danny nuzzled into Lacey’s neck, “I apologize.” 

Lacey rolled them so she was lying flat on top of him in their cocoon, continuing to suck and kiss anything she could reach. Lacey ran both hands through Danny’s beautiful hair and made two fists, gently tugging and anchoring his handsome face in place. She had his full attention.

“I want you—“ She kissed him again, “Please?”

Danny didn’t say anything, he just slipped his hand in between them and slid himself out from inside his sweat pants. With Lacey lying flat against him they had just enough room for her to slide down onto him and begin grinding. 

Lacey kept her face buried in Danny’s neck, his buried into hers on the opposite side. He reached down and moved her ass, helping her glide slowly up and down his dick.

“Damn.” Danny shuddered a bit, her warm tight body overwhelming him first thing in the morning.

They didn’t say another word, Lacey panting heavily into his ear was plenty. She eventually lifted her head up to connect with him, unable to silence all of the whimpers as she arrived at her prize.

Danny held Lacey’s hips down and buried himself deep before his dick pulsed inside of her, filling her up during the sweetest release. Their eyes remained connected and Danny’s jaw just hung open like the pleasure made it weigh too much to close.

Lacey waited for Danny’s orgasm to fade before she deflated against him and resumed notching her face into his neck, peppering kisses as she went.

“I’m in love with you.” Lacey said softly.

Danny’s adrenaline spiked and he felt his whole chest ache. It felt so right.

“I love you, too.” Danny wrapped his arms around the most amazing woman he had ever met.


	18. Chapter 18

“Did you ask him yet?” Regina hopped around beside Lacey during their trip the house to use the bathroom.

“Nope. Drowning yesterday really threw a wrench in my plans.” Lacey deadpanned.

“Ask him what?” Jo wondered.

“Like she’s gonna tell the narc.” Sarita said sarcastically.

Lacey stopped and faced her, “Listen, she’s not a narc. Jo actually helped to look for me yesterday, which apparently couldn’t be said for you so if you’ll be so kind as to stop being a total bitch I would appreciate it.”

“Daaamn.” Regina giggled as the girls resumed their restroom voyage.

“Oh shut up.” Lacey had enough of this weird energy between the four of them, “Be there for me and I’ll be there for you, it’s easy. In case you all forgot I’m done with high school now.”

“I didn’t say anything about Jo being a narc—“ Regina reminded her, wanting some sort of boost to her social standing. 

Lacey ignored her completely, “Jo, what are you doing next weekend?”

“Uh, I—“ Jo never had plans.

“Good, you’re coming to the beach with us.”

“Oh.” Jo, Sarita and Regina all said at the same time with totally different thoughts about it.

“Is there enough room?” Jo couldn’t come up with anything else to say.

“There is now, you can have my spot.” Sarita grit out and stomped off back toward their campsite.

“What’s up her ass today?” Regina shrugged.

“Maybe you and Tyler can drive together?” Lacey suggested ignoring both of her annoying friends equally now, “Everyone else can go in my car.”

“Okay, yeah. I’ll go, sounds fun.” Jo accepted, “Is that what you have to ask Danny about?”

“Ooo, ask Danny about what?” Danny smiled, surprising them as he came around the corner from the house just as they arrived. 

“I can’t ask you about it here—“ Lacey made an obvious glance at the house and then back to him.

“Aww, walk with me then. I wanna know—“ Danny whined like and adorable child, wrapping his arms around Lacey and rocking her backward several steps.

“I need to use the bathroom and then I’ll be up to talk.” Lacey slithered away lovingly.

“Should I be worried?”

“Always.” Regina and Jo said at the same time before busting out laughing.

“No.” Lacey glared at them and shook her head.

“Sweet, I’ll be waiting—“ Danny laughed and threw his thumb behind him, pointing to their campsite. 

Lacey smiled like a love struck idiot as she took a moment to watch Danny’s fine ass jog away.

“Wow, you two have it baddd.” Jo noted matter-of-factly.

“Yeah, but it sounded like they had it good this morning.” Regina added, both blondes chuckling to themselves.

“Oh we did. I hate both of you.” Lacey declared and called dibs on using the bathroom first.

About an hour later the girls returned carrying arm loads of muffins and fruit.

“Yo, what’s this—“ Tyler intercepted one of the platters and helped carry it toward their table.

“Um that, sir, is to replace the breakfast you ate last night after getting high. You don’t get any of this!” Jo scolded her new love.

“I’ll do that thing you like—“ Tyler smirked at her.

“Fine, one muffin.”

“One muffin’s all I need.” Tyler grunted out a laugh.

“Ew.” Regina cringed.

Lacey found Danny playing soccer with Archie and ran over to join in. Danny passed her the ball and she tried valiantly to get around Archie, failing when he easily stole the ball from her à la skills learned during age three soccer practice. 

“Well, at least you’re good at running.” Danny encouraged her like the sweetheart he was. He chased her, caught her easily and scooped her up in his arms, “So what are we talking about?” The suspense was killing him.

“Can we take a walk?” 

Lacey couldn’t help it, no matter how she said it, it sounded like she was about to give him life changing news. She was kind of, but not really.

They walked away from the group until Danny couldn’t stand it anymore.

“Please tell me what’s up.” Danny begged her, “Are we good? Am I like, gonna be a dad or something?” He couldn’t help it, all of the things on his mind just began to spill out.

“What? No—“

“I mean, it wouldn’t be a bad thing—“ Danny tried to make sure she knew that he’d be there regardless.

“I can’t have kids, or I guess I should say it would be very difficult.”

“Oh, I thought you said you’ve been on birth control for years—“

“I have, I am. My fertility issue is not what I wanted to talk about. I’m not pregnant.” Lacey smiled at him.

“Okay.” Danny said as if he definitely wasn’t settled by her answer but relieved he didn’t have to worry about children right now, er ever?

“I just wanted to know if you were interested in joining me at the beach next weekend.” Lacey said simply.

“You wanna go to the beach?” Danny wasn’t sure what he was expecting her to say, but it definitely wasn’t that.

“I do.”

“Okay, yes? Yes, I’d like to go to the beach with you. Why couldn’t you ask me earlier?”

“The beach is in Connecticut.”

Danny slowed a bit, now realizing why she had been trying to keep it quiet. Traveling across state lines would mean he’d be violating his probation. If he were to get caught, he’d go straight to jail.

“I understand if you don’t want to.”

“There are places in New York we could go—“

“I want to show you my favorite spot.” Lacey explained, “Regina and I found it last summer, it’s so beautiful.”

Danny thought about it for a bit while they continued walking.

“It takes about an hour to get to Connecticut and then it’s only like twenty minutes to the shore. Twenty minutes.” Lacey said it as if nothing bad ever happened within twenty minute increments.

“I’ll go.”

“Really?” Lacey’s face lit up.

“Yes.” 

After last night, nothing would stop him from seeing Lacey’s favorite beach because honestly, nothing was going to happen. People go to the beach every day and don’t get arrested. It’s not like they would be doing anything illegal or drawing attention to themselves. They were just a group of friends enjoying summer at the beach. What could go wrong?

******

For camping day two the group played frisbee golf, actual golf, soccer and cooled off by setting up the slip ‘n’ slide that Jo had saved from when she was nine years old.

Just before dinner, everyone was wet, dirty and having the best time. It had been forever since any of them had just let themselves have fun like they did when they were kids.

For Danny, he enjoyed a lot of firsts that day. Having had no siblings or many regular childhood experiences to draw upon, his emotional age when the slip ‘n’ slide was brought out was probably about nine and honestly, so was everyone else’s.

“Wooo!” Tyler shouted and went flying down the vinyl strip that they had extended by adding several hundred feet of plastic sheeting like in every kid’s slip ‘n’ slide fantasy.

Danny went next, Lacey running up and scooting onto his back, riding him like a horse as he flew down on his belly. 

“Who’s this?” Jo nudged Archie as a sleek black Jaguar rolled up the Masterson’s driveway.

“Oh shit. It’s the Desais.” 

Archie squinted and watched Danny’s mother and father both exit the car and stare up at all of them as their group squealed at the northern edge of the Masterson’s property.

“D, company.” Archie nodded in the direction of the house as Danny made his way back up the hill.

Danny turned around and saw his parents standing there uncomfortably and definitely out of patience.

“Who’s here?” Lacey asked after seeing the look on Danny’s face.

“My parents.” Danny sighed.

“C’mon, I’ll go with you.” Archie slapped his friend on the back.

“We all will.” Lacey walked beside them, the rest of them agreeing that supporting Danny would be their top priority.

The walk down to the house was long and uncomfortable. The group was a mess. Tired, bruised, dirty and soaking wet. None of them had actual clothes on, this was going to be awkward. 

“Fuck.” Danny said under his breath as they finally approached.

“Karennnnn—“ Archie said in the way he would, still annoying Danny’s mother to no end, “So nice to see you!” Archie gave her a damp squeeze.

“What is going on here exactly?” Karen pushed Archie away from her.

“Hi Mum, Pop.” Danny gave his dad a nod while folding his arms across his bare chest protectively.

“You look awful, are you on drugs?” Danny’s father asked point blank.

“No, sir. Just having a camping weekend. We’re on day two so, maybe looking a little rough.” Danny looked around at his friends. A lot rough.

“Camping? You’re supposed to be doing community service—“

“I am, mum. It’s the weekend, I’m just having some fun—“

“Unbelievable.” Karen shook her head, arms crossed just like Danny’s, oversized sunglasses obscuring more than half of her face.

“Lacey Porter.” Lacey stepped forward to introduce herself, holding her hand out to shake.

Karen just stood there making no effort to reach out and shake this strangers hand.

“I don’t know you.” Karen shrugged.

“Where is Kyle?” Danny’s father grumbled at his only son.

“I—I don’t know—“

“You don’t know.” 

“Like I said, we’ve been camping out back.”

“I’m Kyle’s daughter, Jo Masterson.” Jo stepped forward and tried her best to ease the tension, “I am sure my parents are inside or out with the animals, please, come in and I’ll find them.” She held her hand out toward the kitchen door and escorted Danny’s very reluctant parents inside.

Kyle exited the bathroom just as the everyone filtered into the kitchen.

“Vikram, Karen. This is a surprise.”

“I want Daniel tested right now.” Danny’s father demanded.

“Okay, we can do that. Danny? Bathroom, please—“ Kyle pointed and Danny obeyed, feeling even more like a child than before, “Archie, let’s just test both of you.”

Danny’s parents watched Kyle prepare the tests and completed them one by one. Once the drug tests were set, Kyle had them complete the breathalyzer too.

“They’re clean.” Kyle knew this would be the case but it felt great to be able to rub it in the Desai’s faces.

“Why is Danny not out doing his community service work?” Karen demanded, finally removing her sunglasses.

“The boys do their work Monday through Friday as assigned. That’s always been the plan. Danny has actually also held a job since day one. You should be very proud, he’s a hard worker.” Kyle smiled warmly.

Vikram’s face snapped over to his son, looking him up and down with disdain over pride.

“A job? Where is that money?” Vikram asked Danny.

“Pop—“

“Danny doesn’t need money. It’s trouble. Where is it?” Vikram insisted.

“It’s in my room—“ Danny struggled to find the words to defend himself.

“Go on then, bring it down immediately.” 

“With all due respect, Vikram, Danny earned that money. He wakes up at 4 am seven days a week to complete this work.”

“Now that Daniel has decided to shame our family and get himself into legal trouble, he remains a dependent for myself and his mother. He no longer has the right to hold that cash.”

Danny’s friends stood there, still a little drippy but mostly stunned at the way he was being treated.

“Danny is on track, he has goals he’s set for himself and he’s saving for his future.” Kyle tried again.

“Goals?” Karen laughed at that, “Like sliding down your hill all day with Green Grove’s underbelly?” 

“Excuse me?” Regina objected.

“Woah.” Even Tyler was shocked at their sharp personalities.

“Doesn’t seem like his priorities are in line to me.” Karen added.

“We were just having some fun—“ Archie tried next.

“You really think your input matters here? You’re the reason our family is in this mess.” Karen lashed back.

“How was Danny even able to have that party, huh?” Lacey’s turn, “Where were you?! Sounds like you failed as parents to me!”

Karen geared up to return fire, the two women taking a step toward each other while Danny quickly slid in between.

“Please, this isn’t helping anything. Mum, please.” Danny faced his mother, Lacey crowding into his back.

“Daniel, the money.” Vikram reiterated, “You cost our family plenty in legal fees, go.”

“Vik—“ Kyle still thought this was bullshit.

“It’s okay, guys—“ Danny turned away from his parents and tried to soothe his amazing entourage that all seemed to have his back, “They’re right, I owe them. I’ll go grab it. Please stop fighting.”

Danny slid away slowly and took a few backward steps toward the stairs, ready to jump back in the middle if the fighting was set to continue. He took the stairs two at a time.

“Can we excuse your wayward group of misfits so we can speak in confidence? This is rude.” Karen scowled.

“They’re all over eighteen, can’t help you there.” Kyle shrugged, “I’ll tell you what’s rude, showing up without calling first. Danny needed you several weeks ago. I called and I called and you never returned my call.”

“We received an update from the DA and we didn’t feel it was necessary to interfere with Danny’s progress at that time.” Vikram reasoned.

“But now is a good time?”

“Well, seventy five hours of community service should absolutely have been completed by now, but I can see priorities are not in place.” Karen pushed back.

“You’re right, he could be done, but this isn’t jail, remember? Jail? The place I’m keeping your son out of. I care about him, he’s a great kid. You’re so lucky and don’t even see it!”

“You did a great job with that McBride animal—“ Vikram rolled his eyes.

“I’m trying to teach them something here, to earn back their life and actually want to live it. To learn from their missteps. Charlie had other circumstances going on that Danny doesn’t have. Danny is doing amazing and yes, he asked if he and his friends could go camping for the weekend. He earned it and he deserves it. His mental health is just as important as everything else, he’s not a machine. I’m trying to support all of it, all of him.”

Danny had stopped at the bottom of the stairs and listened patiently as Kyle spouted off like any other dad would defending their son. Rejoining them at the end of his rant.

Danny had the wad of cash in his hand and held it out, Kyle quickly pushed his arm down. He turned to address Danny as the adult he was.

“Now wait, do you even know what you’re paying for?”

“They paid for my attorney, all the travel and stuff—“

“Okay, where is the bill for it? How much is the total that you owe? Receipts?” Kyle kept pushing, trying to empower him.

Danny took a deep breath and looked at his parents. Kyle was right, what were they trying to do, parent him? Why now? Was this their punishment? If so, when would it end. Danny nodded and turned to face his parents.

“I have a job, I can pay you back. Show me the details of what I owe and I’ll pay for it. I’m not giving you anything until I know.” Danny said as firmly as possible.

“He’ll also be having you sign a receipt for every payment!” Lacey added.

“Who is this girl?” Karen looked between Kyle and Danny, holding her hand out toward Lacey in case they weren’t sure who she was talking about.

“Oh, now you want to know my name. I’m Lacey Porter, Danny’s girlfriend.” Lacey answered for him.

Danny’s head snapped over to her, their eyes burning through each other. It was one thing to say they loved each other in an incredibly intimate early morning moment, it was something else entirely to add such a huge commitment to that without talking about it first.

“Oh that’s great.” Karen looked Lacey up and down in frustration.

Tess walked in with groceries in hand, perfect timing Danny thought. He didn’t want to have to punch his parents in the face for their pending judgement of Lacey but he’d do what was necessary.

“Vik! Karen! How lovely that you’re here. Danny has missed you he must be so happy to see you!” Tess beamed, totally unaware of what she was walking in to, “Hey guys, how’s the slip ‘n’ slide? Can you go grab the rest of the bags for me?”

The group all spilled out of the kitchen except for Danny and Lacey. Tess set the groceries down and finally connected with all of their faces.

“Is everything okay?”

The Desais didn’t answer and turned to face their son, Lacey and Kyle right by his side.

“You want to be a grownup? We’ll send you the bill for what you owe. You’ll pay it in full by the due date, we won’t accept payments.” Vikram decided.

Danny panicked a little, he’d never be able to that.

“You’re an adult now, so you’re not welcome to stay at our house if you do ever end up completing your community service. We’ll hire someone to pack your stuff, at your expense of course, and we’ll send it to your new place.”

“Yes, sir. Got it.” Danny had nothing else to say.

“What is happening?” Tess walked over next to Kyle in disbelief of what she was hearing.

“Good news actually, Danny will be staying with us for a while.” Kyle boasted genuinely, “He’s always welcome here and we’re lucky to have him.” Kyle gripped the base of Danny neck and gave him a squeeze.

“That’s settled then, we’ll be in touch.” Karen said and battled for dominance of the doorway as Archie, Tyler and Jo walked through with arm loads of grocery bags.

After Danny’s parents sped off, the Masterson’s encouraged them all to head back out to finish their special weekend. 

Danny ran his money back upstairs before he left, Lacey right by his side the moment he came back down. He reached for her hand and played with it nervously.

“Chief, I don’t know what to say—thank you.”

“I don’t want you to worry about the money, okay? Whatever ridiculous number they come up with, I’ll vet it out, make sure it’s accurate and then Tess and I will give you the money to pay for it by the due date.”

“I can’t ask you to do that.”

“A debt that size going past due will violate your probation, maybe that was their goal? We’ll pay it, you can make payments to us instead. I trust you Danny, I know you’ll pay us back.” 

“I don’t know what I would do without you guys. I’ll find a second job after my hours are done and I’ll pay you back and be out of here as soon as possible.”

“Sounds like a solid thought, but I meant it when I said you’re welcome here. Just make a plan and see it through, you’ll always have a place to stay, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Now, should I be worried about other things that were said?” Kyle looked between Danny and Lacey fiercely.

“No, Chief, no.” Danny promised.

“Okay, then get out! Go have fun!” Kyle said lovingly and finally shooed them outside.

Danny and Lacey walked slow, watching their friends resume their crazy antics on the slip ‘n’ slide.

“Girlfriend?” Danny smiled, finally addressing it.

“I just couldn’t stand it, they were awful to you!”

“So, not my girlfriend?” Danny asked a different way, “Because I’m pretty sure I tried to talk about that at Regina’s party but you shot me down—“

“I had other things on my mind.” Lacey smiled and danced around in front of him to stop Danny from walking.

“Other things? I don’t recall—“ Danny tried to joke around but Lacey’s lips were faster and she kissed him deep. 

Danny wrapped his arms around her and kissed her back. When they came up for air, Lacey opened her eyes and looked his face all over.

“I’m definitely your girlfriend.” She nodded and went back for more. Danny squeezed tighter.

******

Their friends left at the end of the day instead of camping out another night. The altercation and glimpse into Danny’s stark and lonely home life combined with knowing that Danny and Lacey had almost drowned the night before was enough to exhaust them all emotionally and everyone was ready to move on from this weekend.

Regina headed out to check on Sarita and fill her in on everything she had missed. Archie decided to sleep in his own warm bed that night. Jo checked in and told the Masterson’s that she was staying up with the group, when in reality Jo left with Tyler to go back to his place together. Jo promised Danny that she would be back in the morning.

Danny and Lacey enjoyed their smaller bon fire alone together, laughing and sharing their own more personal stories. Once the fire was out, Danny began shaking out their blankets and preparing their sleeping arrangements while Lacey laid out looking up at the sky.

Lacey loved the Masterson’s farm because at night, no lights from town interfered with gazing at the stars. She remembered watching them with Jo almost every summer night together as kids.

“Hey where are you?” Lacey asked, knowing her new boyfriend was fumbling around in the dark somewhere.

“Just cleaning up the tent—“ Danny hummed while he worked.

“Come watch the stars with me instead?” She asked softly.

Danny found her a few minutes later with a fluffy blanket in hand. He spread it out and pulled her over to lay more comfortably.

“That’s the third one I’ve seen!” Lacey pointed at the shooting star.

“Have you been making wishes?”

“Yep.”

Lacey rolled over onto her side and propped her head up facing Danny. She grabbed his chin and turned his face toward her for a kiss, one Danny freely gave.

“Ever had sex outside before?” Lacey wondered.

“Uh, I mean, this morning—“ Danny reminded her.

“Not like that, I mean like, out here. Totally naked and just outside.”

Danny imagined that for a bit, looking up at the stars and back at Lacey’s beautiful face, “I haven’t. You?”

Lacey shook her head no. She sat up and looked all around them, she couldn’t see anything at all. She stood and looked down toward the house, nothing. Danny sat up and watched Lacey’s investigation.

“We’re totally hidden here, no one can see us.” 

Danny stood and pulled her close for a sweet hug, dancing them around a little while he just enjoyed their time together.

“Thank you standing up for me today. It means more than you know.”

“I can’t believe your parents.” She shook her head in frustration.

Danny looked at her like it hurt him, the seriousness in his eyes made Lacey’s heart hurt. He had said he loved her as a response this morning, but every fiber of his being was actually feeling it for real, right now.

“You okay?” 

“I love you.” Danny affirmed.

Lacey and Charlie had also told each other these words over their three year relationship, but they never felt like this. Danny’s heart was wide open, no ulterior motives, no foggy brain due to ingesting too many drugs. 

She didn’t say it back, she didn’t have to. The passion pulsing through them transcended words at that moment. Lacey kissed him first, trying her best to show him how she felt. Danny could feel it too, heavy and light at the same time, happiness, lust, admiration and trust. 

Danny loved her, she could feel it, but he was also not telling her everything, she could feel that too. Something was on his mind, maybe his parents and his new sudden debt, maybe he was rethinking the beach? Lacey wasn’t sure, but now was not the time to ask him about it.

Danny was still shirtless from their fun day so Lacey’s hands went straight for the string tie on his shorts. She carefully untied the bow and slid her hands along his backside and under the waistband, gripping his bare ass as she worked his shorts down. 

When her hands couldn’t go any further she squatted down and yanked his body free, fully exposed just for her in the mild summer breeze.

Lacey swirled her tongue around his tip, she had never been here with him before. Blow jobs were almost an art form and Lacey was ready to paint him a damn picture.

“Shit—“ Danny hadn’t had a blow job in a very long time. He tried to just let things happen but he wanted desperately to participate.

Lacey slurped him into her mouth and got to work, earning plenty of approving groans from Danny as she worked to show him her skills. When she moved to suck his balls, he was gone.

Danny finally got his hands in Lacey’s hair and tried not to disrupt her gift, but he wanted to move his hips so bad. Lacey concentrated on his tip and picked up the pace, her hand massaging his balls and begging for his finish.

“Lacey that’s so good—I’m—“ Danny’s hips moved in a few short pumps, hands gripping Lacey’s hair as he came hard.

Lacey accepted his load, politely collecting it in her mouth until she could spit it the fuck out. Danny released her and she did just that. Danny pulled her to her feet and made quick work of removing her clothes so they could match.

“You’re in for it.” Danny warned her.

Lacey giggled as Danny yanked off her stubborn leggings, her thong attached, it never had a chance.

“Promise?”

“Lay down.” Danny insisted, pointing to the blanket, ready to blow her mind.

Danny took a moment to fully recover from the surprising aftershocks Lacey’s mouth blessed him with, pacing a few steps and flexing his groin a little until the ache and the oozing finally stopped.

He crawled up Lacey’s body until their faces were smashed together once again. He sucked her lips, her neck, her nipples, everything north of the equator received lots of Danny’s attention.

Danny moved down and wrapped his hands around Lacey’s waist, kissing a trail between her breasts, down past her belly button and firmly against the tiny square of hair he found at the apex of her long, sexy legs.

“Oh my god—“ Lacey was a writhing mess. 

Danny massaged Lacey’s calves, coaxing her to open for him. Lacey let her knees fall apart and reached down to mess with Danny’s long, soft locks.

“I love your hair, please never cut it.”

Danny kissed Lacey’s knee and trailed more up the inside of her thigh, “Never?”

Lacey shook her head no.

Danny latched on to her center and prepared to never stop.

Danny knew exactly what his ex liked, but not everything that Lacey liked yet. He hoped that he could please her better than anyone she had experience with before, but learning her cues was also Danny’s new favorite thing.

Lacey made a few noises and had a few silent moments. He tried again, adding in more pressure and a different rhythm.

“Oh, yes—like that.” Lacey groaned and let her head fall back. 

Lacey’s hips sprung to life and she moved like waves against him. He wrapped his hands around her waist and pulled her core down against his face even more snugly. Lacey pulled at his hair then, her hips still searching for something.

“Please, please—“ Lacey begged him for relief.

Danny popped his mouth off of her swollen clit and kissed his way back up her body, the two of them smashing their faces together now with raw need. 

The time Danny had spent with his face between Lacey’s legs was all the time he needed to recover and get his cock back in the game.

Lacey moved her legs around Danny’s waist and pulled him in closer like a venus fly trap catching her prey. He knew how dominate Lacey was in bed and didn’t try to stop her pursuit at first, but he wanted the chance to show her what he could do too.

Danny kept his hips out of sync with hers, not allowing his junk to slide inside like they both wanted so badly. He did rock her though, moving his hips like he was the lead in Magic Mike. His cock slapped around between their bodies, swollen and ready to find its home.

Lacey tried to roll them over so she could ride but Danny held his ground above her. He took over the angle of their kiss, the rhythm of their hips, all of it. 

“Okay, okay, you win.” Lacey giggled frantically against Danny’s mouth.

“Thank you.” He sighed, “I swear I’m good at this, let me love you—“ Danny grunted and leaned up to kneel in front of her.

Danny took a breath to settle himself and rubbed his tip against Lacey clit, coating himself in her honey and positioning himself at her entrance, requesting to mirror their hands and thread their fingers together before he pushed himself in.

Danny leaned forward and pulled Lacey’s arms up and over her head, releasing her and dragging his fingers down over her chest en route to her waist.

He circled her waist with his hands, his fingers sliding to her ass and adjusting the angle of her hips. Danny leaned forward and really got his body rolling above her, grinding into her over and over again.

“Oh my god—“ Lacey stared up at his big brown eyes, hands all over his fluid, recumbent body.

He kept his rhythm up and brought his face in close, relaxing his upper body onto hers and sucking that good spot behind her ear tenderly.

“Look up.” Danny suggested slipping his arms under her shoulders and cradling her head in his hands. 

Lacey disconnected her tunnel vision from Danny’s handsome face and looked out beyond him at the beautiful night sky. This is what she had imagined, free sex outside under this dark canopy of stars.

Danny ground himself into her clit harder, rocking her hips back and forth and keeping himself buried deep. Lacey’s eyes rolled and she got her hips moving in time with his, this level of penetration was drool inducing.

Lacey’s nails made an appearance and began clawing at Danny’s back, “Don’t stop—“

He didn’t, remaining consistent and relentless until he got her screaming, followed by earning her silence in a very strong climax. 

“Unbelievable.” Danny uttered and kissed the dip at the base of her throat, a thin sheen of sweat coating his body.

“Look at you, still going strong?” Lacey smirked.

Danny smiled back, still pumping himself slowly inside of her.

Lacey rolled them easily then, Danny’s back now laying half on the blanket and half on the cold, itchy grass. She turned herself around to face away from him and sunk down onto his throbbing stud. 

Danny loved this position simply for the practicality of being able to grab her hips and move her how he wanted. He realized that she chose this position to further his desire to not get eaten alive by her tonight.

He held on tight and reciprocated her efforts, moving his hips in time with hers until his breathing labored.

“Fuck—“ He grunted and pulled her hips back faster and faster, “You’re fucking perfect.” Danny panted, his body going stiff and twitchy as he came hard.

“I love you.” Lacey said, looking back at Danny and watching his face when he finally got himself there.

“Wow.” Danny said simply, totally spent.

Lacey slid forward and away from Danny’s rapidly softening junk. They repositioned themselves on the blanket and laid down together to relax and collect themselves. Danny reached for her hand and laced their fingers together tightly. 

After a few minutes, Lacey looked over at Danny while he counted the stars. That same hesitation obviously still at the forefront of his mind. He needed to unload it, it weighed too much.

“What’s up, D?” She began softly, “You’re far away.”

“Hmm?” Danny looked at her knowing exactly what she was asking about but not wanting to pop their bubble.

“I don’t think we should start lying to each other, that’s all.” Lacey pushed, “Talk to me.”

“I’d never lie to you.”

“Well not telling me something is a close second.”

Danny thought about that and nodded in agreement, “You’re right, I just—“ He wasn’t sure how to say it.

Lacey sat up, pulling a reluctant Danny along with her. Both of them just sat there stark naked next to each other, there was no need to hide a damn thing.

“Just say it.”

Danny looked out at all the beauty around them, the sky the hills in the distance that were illuminated by the moonlight. They were so small. Tiny specks in the whole of totality. He was completely overwhelmed.

“Are we in love?” He asked honestly.

It stung. Lacey knew he wasn’t trying to back out, that he wasn’t trying to hurt her, but it still hurt. It was a legitimate question, but it certainly felt like rejection.

“What are you talking about?”

“I know how I feel, Lacey, trust me. I know what you’ve said, but—“ Danny shook his head, “Is it really this easy? I mean, I just keep waiting for the tough bit, for some other shoe to drop or even something the other way, something amazing that proves this is even more real than it seems.”

“Danny—“ Lacey looked at him quizzically.

“So I’ve just been thinking—“ He stalled again, “Are we running off of the energy of almost dying? Could we just be so attached to each other because I pulled you out of the river?”

Lacey’s mouth hung open in disbelief, she did not expect him to say anything like that. She thought they were on the same page.

“Oh—“ It hurt more than she anticipated.

“Please don’t misunderstand me, I just can’t stop thinking about it. I don’t want to build on something because of some sort of hero complex, I don’t want to regret this later.”

“Yeah, totally.” Lacey nodded, unable to stop her tears from brimming. 

She turned her face before they fell so Danny wouldn’t see and struggled up to find her clothes. Danny watched her shimmy back into everything and continue on to pack up her bag.

Danny realized she was definitely preparing to leave. He scrambled to his feet and pulled his shorts back on.

“Please don’t leave?” Danny said softly, watching helplessly as she sped up her packing, “Lacey, please—“

“It’s a big question, Danny. I need some time, okay? I need some time.” Lacey repeated and slung her bag over her shoulder. She walked up and gave him a kiss on the cheek, “Thanks for having me this weekend, I’ve never felt more alive in my entire life.”

“I don’t want you to go.”

“You waited ‘til after to tell me, nice.” Lacey said sarcastically, her pain seemed to intensify the longer she stayed in his vicinity.

“Lace—“

Lacey threw up a peace sign and rushed off toward the house. Danny just let her go. He knew telling the truth wouldn’t always be easy, but she deserved to know where his heart was: desperately in love with her for perhaps all the wrong reasons. Did she feel the same way?

He had hoped she’d understand and work through it with him, but he knew the potential to send her packing was also an option. Waiting to tell her how he was feeling until after they had sex, yeah that was dumb. Strike one.

Danny stared up at the stars and prayed this was real and something that would bounce back.


End file.
